Surrogate mother who had triplets is now seeking for parental rights

Remember the 50 year old man who asked a surrogate to carry his fertilized eggs for him in the hopes of having a child only for her to end up being pregnant with triplets? Remember he asked her to abort 2 of the 3 fetuses because he couldn't afford to take care of 3 children? Well, she gave birth to all 3 children on Monday in a California hospital, and is now seeking parental rights.

The babies were delivered several weeks premature Monday night, according to a lawyer for Melissa Cook, who is the 47-year-old surrogate mother.

That man, a deaf, 50-year-old postal worker from Georgia identified in court papers as “C.M.,” paid Cook to carry a child for him.

"I'm healthy, I'm 28 weeks pregnant, the babies are doing great, the three little boys I have inside me," Cook told Fox News outside court earlier this month before they were born.

In California, a gestational surrogate – a woman who carries a donor’s eggs - has no parental rights, but Cook is challenging the state's surrogacy law in federal court, claiming it is unconstitutional.
Cook's lawyer, Harold Cassidy, a nationally prominent pro-life and anti-surrogacy lawyer said:

"It's an attempt to reduce women to an object, or a breeding animal," charges who is calling for a moratorium on surrogacy'.

"You can doctor this up, you can play word games with it, but this is simply and purely the sale of a child," he added.

Cassidy told Fox News the babies were immediately taken from Cook as soon as they were born, because a state court judge had granted the father parental rights, a ruling Cassidy is appealing.

"The hospital personnel refused to let Melissa see the children, allow her to know what their condition is, refused to tell her their exact weights, and she is not being permitted to see the children at all," Cassidy said. "We have a mother who loves them, who fought for them, who defended their life, who stands ready to take care of them. You can't tell a mother who gives birth to children that what happens to the children is none of her business."