A US woman is taking legal action against a fertility clinic after an error essentially made her an unwitting surrogate, carrying and eventually another couple’s baby, and having to give up custody.

The day Krystena Murray learned that she was pregnant after undergoing IVF treatment at the Coastal Fertility clinic in May 2023 was one of the happiest of her life, but that happiness soon turned to horror when she gave birth in December of that same year. Despite being white and having chosen a white sperm donor, Krystena gave birth to a black boy. She didn’t allow her family and friends to see that baby, and in January of last year, a DNA test confirmed that she and the baby were not genetically related. Murrya alerted the IVF clinic about the terrible mixup, but decided to keep the baby and even got to raise it for a few months until his biological parents filed for custody.

Photo: Aditya Romansa/Unsplash

“To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away. I’ll never fully recover from this,” a heartbroken Krystena Murray said in a statement.

The woman voluntarily gave up custody of the baby she carried in her womb after her legal team told her that she stood no chance of being granted custody over his biological parents. He now lives with his parents in another state, under a different name.

“I was happy. I was a mom. He was beautiful and perfect, but it was also very clear something was wrong,” Murray said during a press conference announcing her lawsuit against Coastal Fertility Clinic. “My baby is not genetically mine – he doesn’t have my blood, he doesn’t have my eyes, but he is and will always be my son.”

 

Krystena Murray’s lawyer emphasized the shock she experienced the first time she saw the baby. Whereas she a Caucasian woman who chose a sperm donor with a similar appearance, the baby was African American.

Coastal Fertility Clinic has admitted to the error but claimed that it was “an isolated event with no further patients affected,” adding that it had implemented further safeguards to ensure that such things don’t happen again.