In the Matter of Baby M

William Sterns (plaintiff) and his wife Elizabeth, unable to have children, arranged through the Infertility Center of New York (ICNY) for Mary Whitehead (defendant) to be artificially inseminated with Sterns's sperm, carry the child, and surrender both the child and her parental rights after birth in exchange for $10,000 to Whitehead and $7,500 to ICNY. ICNY's psychological evaluation of Whitehead flagged concerns about her ability to surrender a child but never shared them with either party; Whitehead received no independent counseling beyond a conversation with ICNY's own lawyer, and never inquired into the Sternses' fitness as parents. After the child's birth, Whitehead struggled emotionally to give her up, fled with the child to another state, and the Sternses had police forcibly remove the child. Sterns sued to enforce the contract; the trial court upheld it, awarded full custody to Sterns with an option for Elizabeth to adopt, and gave Whitehead only limited visitation. Whitehead appealed.