The daughter "became pregnant at her mother's request, using donor sperm bought by the mother, with the purposes of providing a fourth child for the mother to bring up as her own," the judgment states. "The AI [artificial insemination] program was planned when A [the daughter] was 13, began when she was 14 and ended when she became pregnant with D [her child] at age 16."
The woman in question had already adopted three children as babies from abroad, twice when she was married and once as a single parent after her divorce. She reportedly chose not to give birth herself because of a health condition and instead underwent elective sterilization. The mother was distraught when her attempt to adopt a fourth child was denied approval.
Authorities learned of the scheme after midwives alerted them that the mother was "pushy and insensitive" at the hospital and tried to prevent the daughter from breastfeeding the newborn, saying, "we don't want any of that attachment thing."
The daughter, who had no friends her own age, later told investigators she was "shocked, pretty shocked" when her mother first asked her but also thought, "if I do this maybe she will love me more." In agreeing to inseminate herself, she said, "feelings of gratitude for my adoption influenced how I behaved."
