By ANTONIO BRADLEY - The Dominion Post. Last updated 05:00 20/10/2010.
FAKE: American woman Audry Magallon agreed to act as surrogate for a NZ couple, but her claims of pregnancy were a fake, and the postive pregnancy test images she sent the couple were doctored.
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Desperate for a baby, a Kiwi couple sent sperm in a frozen container and thousands in cash to a stranger in the United States – but their supposed surrogate mother was a fake.
The couple from Helensville, near Auckland – a woman in her 40s and a man in his 20s – had signed a contract with Audry Magallon, 31, of Oregon, after meeting her online.
As well as "biological material", they sent more than $2650 (US$2000) to the woman, who agreed to give birth to their child.
But police in Astoria, a small city about 115km northwest of Portland, arrested her on Sunday for theft, alleging she was engaged in "fraudulent activities".
Magallon falsely claimed she had impregnated herself with the sperm and sent the couple doctored images of positive pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, assistant chief of police Alan Oja said.
Magallon, a mother of four, used images from her previous pregnancies.
The couple had advertised for a surrogate on the website Craigslist and, when Magallon contacted them, they exchanged "numerous" emails. They sent her the sperm in a rented $3320 (US$2500) container.
"I'm guessing that it was some kind of highly specialised delivery device that was used to send that over here," Mr Oja said last night.
The couple contacted Astoria police three weeks ago when they became concerned.
"We looked into it and she was obviously not pregnant," Mr Oja said.
"She was not pregnant, never was pregnant and we have information to cause us to believe that this was all done fradulently, knowing that she was not going to bear a child for them."
Magallon, a former sleep clinic worker, is married to a member of the US Coastguard.
A second person from Washington state contacted Astoria police on Monday complaining they were also victims of Magallon under similar circumstances.
The class of theft charge Magallon faces carries a maximum sentence of five years' jail or a $165,000 (US$125,000) fine.
The state of Oregon permits only uncompensated surrogacy contracts.
In New Zealand, paying someone to be a surrogate is not illegal, but paying to adopt a child is.
Surrogate children born overseas are not New Zealand citizens until they are adopted.
This means parents who want to look overseas for surrogates can get into trouble if payment is made after the birth or if the surrogate goes back on the agreement.
Fertility Associates group operations manager John Peek said he had never heard of a similar incident.
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Magallon could have successfully impregnated herself if the sperm was properly frozen and shipped, but the freezing process was complicated.
"You can't just sort of stick sperm in the freezer and then thaw it out and it be alive."
His company occasionally shipped sperm and eggs overseas in liquid nitrogen containers, but only to other clinics. "We wouldn't send it to someone's address in Oregon."
Some people tried to get around the cost and law that governed fertilisation clinics by arranging private surrogates, he said.
In-vitro fertilisation and the application process – including doctors' examinations and counselling sessions – cost about $15,000 on average, excluding lawyers' fees, he said.
Medical director Mary Birdsall said the incident should be a cautionary tale for New Zealand couples.
"There are people we know about as we speak who are caught up in a scenario of having engaged a surrogate and their surrogate has delivered offshore and then they have not been able to bring their baby back into New Zealand.
"Clearly it's incredibly stressful for everybody concerned."
INTERNATIONAL SURROGACY
What rules apply:
New Zealand law applies to all cases of international surrogacy – regardless of how it is organised – where you intend on bringing the child back to this country.
Is the child automatically a New Zealander?
A genetic relationship between you and a surrogate child born overseas does not mean you are the legal parent of that child. Under New Zealand law, the surrogate mother is a legal parent of the child until the genetic parents adopt it.
This means the child will not be able to enter and live in New Zealand unless it has been adopted, and the adoption meets the necessary requirements to be recognised in New Zealand.
How do I become the legal parent?
The requirements for an intercountry adoption of a surrogate child born overseas include: an application to the Family Court for adoption; an assessment of the applicants by a Child, Youth and Family social worker; the consent of the birth mother; and approval of both central authorities that the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
Applicants must be residing in New Zealand for the process to be followed.
Worth remembering:
The New Zealand Government will not participate in the irregular movement of children, and failure to have adequate arrangements in place in relation to any international arrangement you undertake will create difficulties for you and the child.
Source: Child, Youth & Family
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