A Kenyan woman has declined to handin a Chinese baby to a Chinese couple.
Josephine Muthoni Kariuki entered into a Sh500, 000 contract to be a surrogate mother for a Chinese couple and now seems like she is about to bleach the contract.
The contract was with Neon Kian Fu who agreed to pay her an additional Sh30, 000 per month for the entire pregnancy period.
Muthoni who is 27, gave birth to baby Neo Yu Jie, where she caused drama at Mombasa Hospital when doctors attempted to hand the child over to the legal father.
It is however not clear why Muthoni changed her mind despite signing legal papers to give the child to the Chinese father who is on a three-month visit to Kenya on a tourist visa.
Things took an unexpected turn, with Muthoni and Kian Fu being arrested and charged alongside Mombasa-based doctor, Mahesh Chudasama for attempting to traffic baby Neo Yu Jie.
The three appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Henry Nyakweba and denied the two counts of attempted human trafficking. They were released on a bond of Sh1 million with one surety with an alternative cash bail of Sh100, 000 each.
It is alleged that on diverse dates between July 16 and 28, 2018 at Mombasa Hospital, Kariuki and Chudasam jointly offered Kian Fu a child (Yu Jie) for guardianship to facilitate the child’s removal from Kenya to Singapore.
They are also charged with unlawfully adopting Yu Jie.
The police have also confirmed that indeed Muthoni had entered into a contact worth Sh500, 000 to be a surrogate mother to a Chinese couple.
Apparently the doctor involved, Dr Chudasama released the baby to Kian Fu without the knowledge of Muthoni.
A police report produced in court indicated that Kian Fu left the country after he donated sperm to Muthoni. It is reported that Dr Chudasama had initiated the process.
The agreement was drafted by Muthee Soni Advocates based at Mombasa and executed by both parties.
The legal formalities were being handled by advocate Christine Kipsang who is an advocate a Children’s Court.
Kipsang produced an order issued by Tononoka Children’s Court granting parental rights to the intended parents, being Kian Fu.
The birth certificate indicates Muthoni as the mother to Yu Jie and Kian Fu as the father.
The baby was taken to Baby Life Rescue Centre pending application for protection and care by the children’s court in Mombasa.
The case is scheduled for pre-trial on August 13.
Using a surrogate mother to have a baby. The legal process is also tricky because it varies from state to state. Even so, whether it’s because of fertility problems or other reasons, surrogacy is an option for you and your partner.
There are two kinds,Traditional surrogate. It’s a woman who gets artificially inseminated with the father’s sperm. She then carries the baby and delivers it for you and your partner to raise.
A traditional surrogate is the baby’s biological mother. That’s because it was her egg that was fertilized by the father’s sperm. Donor sperm can also be used.
Gestational surrogates. A technique called “in vitro fertilization” (IVF) now makes it possible to gather eggs from the mother, fertilize them with sperm from the father, and place the embryo into the uterus of a gestational surrogate.
The surrogate then carries the baby until birth. She doesn’t have any genetic ties to the child because it wasn’t her egg that was used.
A gestational surrogate is called the “birth mother.” The biological mother, though, is still the woman whose egg was fertilized.
If you’re a woman, you may consider a surrogate for several reasons, medical problems with your uterus, you had a hysterectomy that removed your uterus,conditions that make pregnancy impossible or risky for you, such as severe heart disease.
You may want to think about surrogacy if you tried but couldn’t get pregnant with a variety of assisted-reproduction techniques, such as IVF.