Most surrogacies lead to smiling babies and happy new parents, but that wasn’t the case for Crystal Kelley, a surrogate for a couple in Connecticut last year.

Kelley, a mother of two girls of her own, agreed to be a surrogate for a couple who wanted a fourth child.

Kelley was in need of money after losing her job as a nanny, and her only source of income was child support paid by her daughter’s father.

After meeting the family, who seemed to be loving and stable, she agreed to have their baby.

After contracts were signed and the embryo was implanted, Kelley was soon a surrogate for the family. Things were going well until she went to the doctor more than halfway through her pregnancy. The ultrasound showed that the baby would be born with severe defects, such as a cleft lip and palate, a cyst in her brain and serious heart defects.

When the couple found out their baby would be born with an endless list of medical problems, they offered Kelley $10,000 to abort the baby.

The family didn’t want the child to endure a life of suffering and pain, and there was only a 25 percent chance the child would ever live a normal life. Kelley refused to abort. She wanted to give the baby a chance to fight      for her life.

Kelley moved to Michigan where under its law, she’s considered the legal mother. She soon gave birth to the baby, who had many medical problems.

Kelley gave the baby up for adoption because she didn’t want another child, nor could she afford to care for another one.

“No one else was feeling this pregnancy the way that I was. No one else could feel her kicking and moving around inside,” said Kelley.

“I knew from the beginning that this little girl had an amazing fighting spirit, and whatever challenges were thrown at her, she would go at them with every ounce of spirit that she could possibly have.”

But many would disagree.

Critics say Kelley didn’t have the right to make a decision about a baby that wasn’t hers.

Others say she read the contract and agreed to it – and the contract did mention if there were any issues with the baby’s health, she would agree to terminate the pregnancy.

Even though the contract specified health issues as a cause for abortion, how do you decide how serious the health issues must be to proceed with an abortion?

Whether one is for abortion rights, a baby with abnormalities isn’t less than a human being. Kelley did no wrong in attempting to give the baby a chance to fight for her life, even if she may not live very long.

There are thousands of babies born each day with severe abnormalities who have fought hard for their lives, while others have developed way beyond what doctors ever said they would.

This story doesn’t only raise the long-debated issue of abortion, but it also questions our morals. The baby wasn’t meant to be Kelley’s, but she was the one who carried it. The pregnancy affected her body and her life, meaning she should have a say in whether to get an abortion.

The baby was adopted by a loving family who is fighting for her and trying to give her as much of a normal life as they can. Yes, it’s stressful but she is still a human being and doesn’t have to be “normal” in order to prove that.