Surrogate files lawsuit to gain custody of triples after father says he cannot support all 3

Melissa Cook is a mother of four children and has been a surrogate before.

But when the biological father - only named "CM" - said he was running out of money during the surrogacy contract, he asked her to abort one of the babies during her 17th week of pregnancy.

"Being asked to abort a healthy baby, it devastated me. I could not go through with that," she said. "I went into this to give life, not terminate it."

That request left her worried about the child's future. Still, Cook ended up delivering healthy triple baby boys on Feb. 22.

The father is a 50-year-old single deaf man from Georgia. Cook said he told her he would not be able to afford all three children and that he would put one up for adoption.

Now, Cook fights for the baby she's never laid eyes on.

"I want what's best for the children. I want a custody determination done to see if CM can take care of the babies. If he's not able to do that, yes, I will take responsibility for one or all of the children," she said.

Scott Altman, vice dean and professor at USC Law, said this is a heartbreaking case for both parties involved. But financial security should not be grounds to try to take a child away, according to Altman.

"Large numbers of children in our society are born into homes where parents maybe don't have as much money as might be ideal for the child, and we don't remove the children," he said.

Cook filed a case in federal court Tuesday, saying she will go all the way to the Supreme Court for custody of one or all of the boys.

Her lawyers also filed a motion in Georgia for Cook to be able to see the children.