"The pregnancy was contrived with the aim of a same-sex couple having a child to form a family assisted by a friend," said the judge. Instead, the woman deceived the couple into donating sperm so that she could have a child of her own.
In the UK, the agreement between a surrogate and the biological parents is entirely based on trust. There can be no legal documents involved until the baby is born and a surrogate mother cannot be forced to give the baby away if she changes her mind during the pregnancy.
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However, the judge in this case found that the mother deliberately misled the couple from the beginning, in the first ruling of its kind in England and Wales.
The mother was also found guilty of launching a hate campaign against the two men, using offensive language including "stereotypical images and descriptions of gay men" and had insinuated that gay men in same-sex relationships were unfaithful to each other.
The judge ruled that the girl's father is more likely to provide her with a stable home and enable her to grow into a "happy, balanced and healthy adult," the Daily Telegraph reports.
The baby, who celebrated her first birthday earlier this year, will go on to live with her father and his partner, with the mother only allowed supervised contact with the child.
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