In California, a mother made the decision to become a surrogate mother in
order to assist others. Jessica Allen, who is married and has two children,
already has a lovely family of her own. She thus made the decision that she
wanted to make other couples happy who either weren't able to or didn't want
to conceive on their own. She successfully had an embryo implanted after
deciding to become a surrogate mother and matching with another couple, but
a weird event occurred a few weeks later that would change her life
forever.
Allen was discovered to be unexpectedly pregnant with twins in 2016. Her
fee from the family she was a surrogate for had already been upped when they
discovered they would be expecting two children rather than just one. Allen
gladly carried through the surrogacy and gave birth to both children via
cesarean section on December 12, 2016, at Riverside Community Hospital. One
month later, she encountered yet another turn in the narrative when she
learned some unanticipated information.
Only one of the infants actually had a biological connection to the other
couple. Allen had another kid with her husband Wardell Jasper while she was
carrying another child as a surrogate, therefore the second child was
biologically hers. What she mistook for a set of twins was actually two
individual infants with distinct ancestries. After thereafter, a custody
dispute arose as Allen attempted to complete her lovely family by bringing
her biological child home.
The Battle for Her Infant
Allen talked openly about the day she gave birth to what she believed to be
a pair of identical twins and the several twists and issues that followed in
an interview with the New York Post. "I was permitted an hour with the
infants before they were discharged from the maternity unit," Allen said.
"It was included in my $35,000 contract." She was only shown a photo of the
infants since the biological parents for whom she had served as a surrogate
did not let it to happen. Allen then realized how drastically different they
seemed.
It came out that their disparities extended well beyond just how they
looked. According to The New York Post, the two infants weren't exactly
twins but rather two individuals with distinct ancestries. While the other
child was biologically related to the other couple, one was born to Allen
and Jasper.
Allen conceived her own kid naturally at the same time as she became
pregnant with the other couple's child through in vitro fertilization.
According to Good Morning America, superfetation is an uncommon occurrence
that happens when a woman continues to ovulate after getting pregnant,
giving rise to two infants with distinct sets of parents and various
gestational ages.
Allen sobbed as he admitted to Good Morning America, "I carried my own
child and I didn't know he was mine. Allen started a court battle to regain
custody of one of the infants since she was the biological mother of one of
them. According to News24, the mother was able to regain full legal custody
of her kid in February 2017, reuniting her family, after paying the other
couple between $18,000 and $22,000 as "compensation."
She told CBC News before Allen was granted custody of her son:
"They stole something from me that I will never get back, so this is a form
of anguish that you're never going to get over."
When she eventually got her kid back, Allen even gave him a new name,
according to the New York Post:
Thus, on February 5, I eventually encountered an Omega caseworker in the
parking lot of a Starbucks in Menifee, California, where she handed us our
boy, whom we have now christened Malachi.
Once she was granted custody of her kid again, Allen became quite
emotional. She uttered:
"I began embracing and kissing my son since the situation was so emotional.
Malachi has been with us for about nine months and is doing well. He is
gorgeous. He's in good health, and his personality cracks me up. He is
learning to walk and is beginning to communicate, and he adores his big
brothers."
In her statement to the New York Post, Allen continued by stating that she
and her husband had no intention of having further children:
"We didn't anticipate growing our family so quickly after getting married
in April, but Wardell and I adore Malachi. I don't regret having a surrogate
child since to do so would mean having a son I regret. All I want is for
other women who are thinking about surrogacy to learn from my experience.
And that this nightmare will lead to something better."
Legalize Surrogacy claims that the court's ruling on the matter was as
follows:
The defendants have caused harm, and Jessica, Wardell, and most
significantly Malachi must now deal with the long-term repercussions of the
defendants' wrongdoings against them.
Tags:
Positivity