COUPLE DESERTS SURROGATE AFTER LEARNING UNBORN BABY IS A GIRL

A surrogate mother has complained to the Telangana health authorities that the biological parents of the baby disappeared midway through the pregnancy without paying her the promised money.

The couple from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh apparently came to know from doctors that the baby growing in the rented womb is a girl.

Lakshman, a construction worker of Kuntlur village on the outskirts of Hyderabad, said on Tuesday a woman approached his wife, 20-year-old Venkatamma, in November last year and convinced her to rent her womb for a childless couple.

Venkatamma was promised ₹3 lakh, to be paid after delivery.

“I was not aware of the deal as I was out of station for a few months. The couple took her to a private hospital at SR Nagar in Hyderabad and got her pregnant through in vitro fertilization,” Lakshman said.

For the next three months, the surrogate was allegedly taken to different hospitals for check-up.

“But suddenly, the woman and the couple disappeared from the city without informing my wife and paying her a single penny,” the husband said.

Venkatamma, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, disclosed everything to her husband when he returned.

The poor couple decided against an abortion and on July 20, a girl was born at Victoria memorial government maternity hospital in Hyderabad. The baby was shifted to Niloufer children’s hospital because of complications, where she is said to be responding to medication and recovering.

“We wanted the baby to be given to her biological parents. But we could not trace them. So we approached the medical and health department authorities on Saturday to find the parents and do justice to us,” Lakshman said.

Authorities had sent a team to the hospitals mentioned by Venkatamma, but the address or contact details of the biological parents couldn’t be found.