M.P. probes black market baby claim

Press, 14 June 1984, Page 11

M.P. probes black market baby claim

NZPA-PA London A British member of Parliament is investigating a claim that a solicitor offered a childless couple a “black market baby” for £ 2000 (SNZ43O3).

The child-for-sale row comes only 24 hours after the revelation that a surrogate mother is now carrying a baby for Michael Dodd" aged 36, and his wife, Gina.

The woman, who has not been identified, is living with the English couple near Lairg and is expecting a baby next month.

The child was fathered by Mr Dodd and the mother has agreed to hand over the baby for adoption. No money is involved in the deal.

The Glasgow “Evening Times” reported yesterday that before the couple contacted the woman they were offered a “black market baby” by a Glasgow solicitor.

Mrs Anna McCarley, the Conservative member of Parliament for Renfrew West and Inverclyde, yesterday described the ’ latest turn in the tale “a trade in

human misery and desperation."

The action of the solicitor was totally illegal, she said.

“If we discover who the solicitor is, then this is a case for the Law -Society of Scotland. If a child' is bought ana sold it is no more than slavery —. the child is being deprived of its inheritance.”

Mrs McCurley said she had written to Scotland’s Solicitor-General asking for his comments on the legal situation. A spokesman for the LawSociety for Scotland said, "until there is an official complaint to us there is nothing we can do and no comment we can make. “We have no idea who the alleged solicitor involved is or what his side of the story is.”

Mrs Dodd said that at first she told the solicitor to go ahead with his offer, but later telephoned him to say she and her husband would not need his help because the surrogate mother —

contacted through a newspaper advertisement — was pregnant.