At 38 years old, I am a mom to one incredible and loving son. For years after my son was born, my husband and I tried to give him a sibling. My PCOS ramped up massively after giving birth, and for months we struggled unknowingly. After years of tests and medications, we were led to the depressingly expensive route of infertility treatments, which ultimately we couldn’t afford. We’ve made peace for the most part with the situation, but every month there is that little “What if” pang, and each year that passes, I worry about what might happen if I became an “old” mom.
If you were to ask 68-year-old mom MaryBeth Lewis, however, I’m not even close to being “too old.” MaryBeth and her husband, Bob Lewis, had 13 children together, and she gave birth herself for the last time at 62 years old. Her birthing journey ranges from natural conception to assistance with IVF, and over two decades and rounds of treatment that involved IVF and donor-created embryos, Bob was done with having children. But MaryBeth wasn’t even close to finishing that journey, even though doctors warned her any more pregnancies would come with higher risk. So she took extreme measures into her own hands.
“My children were my love, my blessings,” MaryBeth reportedly told the New York Times in an in-depth profile.
In 2023, MaryBeth used a surrogate to carry her donor embryos and “tricked” an IVF clinic and her husband to make it happen, People reported. She reportedly forged Bob’s signature on their surrogacy agreement, stating she couldn’t “bear” to destroy the embryos left over from their latest attempt. The deception went even further: During an online parentage order hearing with a judge over Zoom to ensure she get custody of her twins from the surrogate, MaryBeth impersonated her husband with a second logged-in account.
People went on to say that she allegedly told the judge that he was traveling in Japan on business and that was why his screen was off. When the judge addressed “him,” she responded with grunts.
Days later, Bob discovered her scheme and promptly addressed the lawyer MaryBeth used to inform them of the forgery. That kicked off a nearly three-year battle that not only racked up a range of felony counts, such as forgery in the second degree, criminal impersonation in the first degree, perjury in the second degree, and kidnapping in the second degree, the Times reported, per People. MaryBeth reportedly refused two plea offers to continue her fight for custody of the two children born via surrogate, which is something her husband now “fully supports” as well as her surrogate.
The most recent hearing occurred in October, and even though a judge ruled the Lewises are their legal parents, the now 2-year-old twins’ foster parents are appealing any orders that the two return to MaryBeth and Bob.
“We sincerely hope your reporting will champion justice, uphold integrity, and advocate for the protection of two very precious children,” the foster father wrote, according to the Times.
