Conceiving Crime: She wasn’t the daughter they wanted, so they offered a bribe

The latest episode of the Conceiving Crime podcast takes a look at a surrogacy case in which a very much planned and wanted baby suddenly became the target of abortion — an abortion the intended parents were willing to bribe the surrogate mother into undergoing.

In 2011, Crystal decided she wanted to help a family who was dealing with infertility to have a child, so she looked into becoming a surrogate. She was ultimately connected to a couple who already had three children and wanted another, but had not been able to conceive. After meeting them and their children, Crystal felt an instant connection with them and agreed to be their surrogate.

Not The Daughter I Wanted | Conceiving Crime Podcast

Yet, it wasn’t just that Crystal wanted to help the couple. As a single mother of two children, she stood to benefit from the financial compensation she would receive, which was an agreed-upon $8,000. To move forward with the agreement, Crystal had to sign a contract, which is standard for surrogacy arrangements. The contract would protect both Crystal and the couple in “what if” scenarios that might arise during the pregnancy. But there was a clause in that contract that wasn’t sitting right with Crystal.

In the original contract that was presented to her, the intended parents of the baby Crystal would be carrying were allowed to ask for an abortion at any time, for any reason. Crystal wanted the clause removed, but ultimately, agreed to sign an updated contract that said the couple could tell her to abort if the baby had a severe fatal abnormality as determined by a 3D ultrasound. Believing that this would be rare, Crystal signed the contract. It was a decision she would later come to regret.

Crystal became pregnant with baby Seraphina, but at 20 weeks, one of those “what if” situations occurred when it was discovered that Seraphina had some concerning health issues.

The intended parents were clear with Crystal — they wanted her to have an abortion. But Crystal refused. After that, the intended parents never spoke to her again, choosing to route all future contact through attorneys instead.

Still, Crystal refused to abort Seraphina, so the couple offered her $10,000 to do so — money that Crystal could have put to good use in taking care of her own children. But Seraphina, growing inside of her for those five to six months, mattered deeply to Crystal too.

Crystal had a choice to make. If she didn’t abort, she could be in breach of contract and the parents threatened to abandon Seraphina and make her a ward of the state. It would have been easy to take the money. But could Crystal actually go through with the abortion? She was being forced to choose — and soon, the world would be watching.