Shocking: Mother impregnates 14-year-old daughter with donor sperm!

In a shocking move, a woman, desperate for another child forced her 14-year-old daughter to get pregnant using syringes of donor sperm, reports the Huffington Post. The mother had been impregnating he

By: Nirmalya Dutta | | Updated: January 7, 2014 10:57 am

In a shocking move, a woman, desperate for another child forced her 14-year-old daughter to get pregnant using syringes of donor sperm, reports the Huffington Post. The mother had been impregnating her own daughter with sperm from donors for three years until the young girl finally gave birth to a baby boy in July 2011. The presiding judge Peter Jackson pointed out that the mother had behaved in ‘a wicked and selfish way’ that almost defied belief. The woman, an American divorcee living in Britain with three adopted children, hatched the plan after laws in the UK prevented her from adopting a fourth child. Also Read - Eating nuts may boost sperm count

The scheme involved getting her oldest daughter (who’s been called A to protect her identity) with syringes of sperm purchased over the Internet from a Denmark-based company. Jackson said, ‘She became pregnant at the mother’s request, using donor sperm bought by the mother, with the purpose of providing a fourth child for the mother to bring up as her own.’ Also Read - What are fertility preservation techniques for cancer patients?

In his ruling, the judge quoted the teenager as saying she was shocked by the suggestion, but thought, ‘If I do this … maybe she will love me more.’ ‘My mum is a very determined person and she does her best not to let anything get in her way if she wants it,’ the teenager added. Also Read - Men! It's not just about your best swimmers, it's about you too

The mother also made the teenager use douches of vinegar or lemon to help ‘increase her chances of having a girl’. According to the judge, she then had a miscarriage and her mother tried six more times to impregnate her with donor sperm after which she gave birth to a baby boy in July 2011. However, midwives at the hospital became alarmed when she would refuse to let her daughter breastfeed the baby saying, ‘We don’t want any of that attachment thing.’ That’s when the hospital staff alerted the authorities and her children were taken into foster care. The mother is facing a five-year jail term for child cruelty.

Risks of early pregnancy: When a teenager gets pregnant, there are a number of things that can go wrong. An adolescent’s body is not ready to bear and there are numerous risks involved in teenage pregnancies. One of the biggest is a condition called spontaneous abortion which is a condition where the foetus is aborted before the 20^th week of pregnancy. In this case, there are chances that the entire foetus might not be expelled from the uterus, leading to possible septicaemia.

Another severe complication of early pregnancies is that the young mother is at greater risk of having an ectopic pregnancy, this is a condition where the foetus attaches to the outer wall of the uterus. It is a potentially life-threatening condition, since the area will rupture once the foetus grows. Once the area ruptures, the condition requires immediate medical attention, which may necessitate the doctors to remove part of the organ. This type of pregnancy can affect the Fallopian tubes as well, leading to blockages in the tube or its complete removal.

Stillbirths are again a very common occurrence in young mothers. Since their body is not well equipped for childbearing, the baby is unable to grow, leading to its death. Young mothers are also at a higher risk of developing preeclampsia—a condition where the mother develops hypertension. This condition also causes excess elimination of proteins in the urine leading to severe water retention and kidney damage. And finally, there are extremely high chances of death during child birth, usually because of malnutrition and a weak uterus which is prone to rupture. Apart from all the dangers a mother faces, the child is very likely to be born with birth defects or congenital anomalies, because of incomplete prenatal nutrition given to the mother.

Along with the risks of childhood pregnancies, the mother was also exposing her daughter to various diseases like HIV/AIDS and other STDs which can be spread by bodily fluid exchange. Also, unless the sample is properly checked, the recipient could suffer from severe infections which could lead infertility or even death.

Additional inputs by Pavitra Sampath

Published : April 30, 2013 11:08 am | Updated:January 7, 2014 10:57 am

Read Disclaimer