A british woman who agreed to be a surrogate mother for an American couple has filed a lawsuit against them after they allegedly backed out of the deal when they discovered she was carrying twins.
Ms Helen Beasley (26), from Shropshire, is suing the Californian parents. She and her lawyer have also filed suit in Family Court in San Diego to clear the way for the unborn babies to be put up for adoption.
The suit contends that the prospective parents - lawyers Mr Charles Wheeler and Ms Martha Berman - backed out of the agreement when Ms Beasley would not abort one of the foetuses.
The San Diego Tribune said Ms Beasley sued in San Diego Superior Court on August 1st for breach of contract and fraud, asking for damages for medical costs and emotional suffering.
The legal secretary, who has a nine-year-old son, made contact with Mr and Mrs Wheeler via the Internet. They agreed to pay her $14,000 (£12,400) and made an initial payment of $700, said her US lawyer, Ms Theresa Erickson.
She was made pregnant using Mr Wheeler's sperm and eggs from a donor and under the terms of the contract Ms Beasley agreed to abort additional foetuses if more than one egg was fertilised.
Ms Beasley says they verbally agreed that any decision would be made before the 12th week, only to be told at the end of the 13th week that the couple wished for the abortion to take place. Ms Beasley said she would not consider aborting one of the foetuses because her pregnancy was too far gone and the procedure could risk the life of the other twin.
She told Sky News: "They don't want two babies and although we did have it in the contract that if there were multiples we would reduce, they left it too late in arranging an appointment to reduce them. I thought I just couldn't do it. There is a risk to the other baby as well. If you abort one the risk of miscarriage is high and you could lose both of them."
She now hopes to find new parents for the twins once they are born, but must go to court in order to gain legal rights over them. Under Californian law, parental rights in a surrogate agreement are granted to the intended parents.
Ms Beasley said: "When they're born, what happens to them? I can't have them. I can't do anything with them, they're not mine." Ms Erickson said the couple abandoned Ms Beasley the moment she refused to have the abortion. "As soon as they found out she was not going to reduce at 13 or 14 weeks they cut off all communication, no longer provided any support and she was left on her own," the lawyer said.
A spokeswoman for the British organisation Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS), said: "It's a very, very sad case and the poor children are the ones who are suffering. I would hope that the babies go to a loving adoptive couple who desperately want them and that they stay together."
The couple could not be contacted for comment.