Surrogate mother lied about abortion

A surrogate mother who was believed to have aborted a baby she was carrying for a Dutch couple admitted last night that she was still pregnant.

Karen Roche, a 31-year-old maternity nurse and a mother-of-two, confessed she did not undergo the abortion she claimed took place on 8 April.

Sonja and Clemens Peeters, the couple who paid her a reported pounds 12,000 to carry the baby, said last night: "We are totally shocked and stunned."

The revelation came just two days after Mrs Roche, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, claimed she aborted the baby because she did not think they were committed to the pregnancy.

The Peeters, who had been trying to have a baby for 10 years and had looked to Britain to avoid the strict laws in the Netherlands, claimed to be "emotionally wrecked" after the deal collapsed. Mr Peeters, whose wife suffered five miscarriages and had 16 unsuccessful attempts at artificial insemination said: "We were left with nothing in the end except an empty feeling and our child has gone."

Mrs Roche, the biological mother, claimed to have had an abortion in April at a private clinic in London after the Peeters reportedly failed to turn up to three meetings to discuss the child's future. On Monday, she said: "I felt they weren't committed to myself and my pregnancy and felt it was in everyone's best interests to terminate the child."

The couple were introduced to Mrs Roche by the surrogacy pioneer Kim Cotton in January in London and agreed a fee. But the Dutch couple said Mrs Roche's mood changed after she became pregnant in February.

The (now fictitious) abortion prompted Mrs Cotton to halt the process by which couples from abroad are linked up with British surrogate mothers.

Matthew Brace