Oh What A Lawsuit It Could Have Been!
`As attorneys, we hear some complicated fact patterns and issues. Some of you may recall the Baby Richard case as an example. Times change as do facts and technology. Today in a divorce, marital property may consist of frozen embryos, and a Judge faced with deciding to whom they should be awarded or whether they should be destroyed, depending on the position of the parties. However, what we rarely, if ever hear, are the extraordinary stories with complicated facts and hard choices, that do not end up in a Court of Law.
A couple in Silicon Valley retained the services of a surrogate to carry their child. Their frozen embryo was successfully implanted in the surrogate, and the pregnancy was off to a seemingly perfect start. That is until the biological Mom asked the surrogate (as is her absolute right) to undergo the new non invasive early genetic blood testing. Certain tests can determine, with 99.9% accuracy, if the child will have Downs Syndrome. The baby the surrogate was carrying tested 99.9% positive for Downs Syndrome. The parents informed the surrogate they had decided, based on the results, to abort the child, which is also their right. However, the surrogate, who didn't even want a healthy baby, let alone a disabled one, did not want to abort this child. She knew she had to, under the terms of the contract. She was certain the couple would not only say no - but that she would make an already painful situation worse, just by asking. This was THEIR BABY.
Rather than contact a lawyer, she contacted the parents. She told them how she felt: like something was telling her she wanted to keep this baby. THEY SAID YES. As predicted, the baby had Down's Syndrome. As I suspected, the surrogate commented that this baby has enriched the lives of her and her family in ways they could not have imagined.......but I can. At night I look into the eyes of my son and think:
My face may be different but my feelings the same. I laugh and I cry and take pride in my gains. I was sent here among you to teach to love, as God in the Heavens looks down from above. To Him I'm no different, His love knows no bounds. It's those here among you in cities and towns that judge me by standards that man has imparted, but this family I've chosen will help me get started. For I'm one of the children so special and few, who came here to learn the same lessons as you. That love is acceptance, it must come from the heart, and we all have the same purpose, though not the same start. The Lord gave me life to live and embrace, and I'll do it as you do, but at my own pace.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MICHAEL PAGNOZZI LUND