Mother forces 14-year-old daughter to get pregnant
A pregnant woman poses.
A British judge said a mother desperate for another child forced her 14-year-old daughter to get pregnant using syringes of donor sperm purchased over the internet.
"[I have] an abiding sense of disbelief that a parent could behave in such a wicked and selfish way towards a vulnerable child," said High Court judge Peter Jackson.
The mother, and American living in Britain, came up with the plan to inseminate her oldest daughter after she was prevented from adopting a fourth child. The girl's initial pregnancy at 14 ended in a miscarriage, but she did give birth to a baby boy from donor sperm when she was 17.
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The woman is said to have sometimes obtained the donor sperm through an international sperm bank based in Denmark and, on at least one occasion, had a donor come to their home.
The teen told authorities she was "shocked" when her mother asked her to conceive a child for her, but thought, "If I do this … maybe she will love me more."
Court document were previously undisclosed because of the daughter's age, but have now been made public, although all names remain confidential to protect the girl and her son.
The woman pleaded guilty to child cruelty and is now serving five years in prison.