Judges rule birth can be kept secret

A woman who became pregnant after a one-night stand has won the right to keep it a secret from the father after judges ruled that "the ultimate veto" over who should know about the birth lay with the mother.

The woman wanted her baby girl, now 19 weeks old, adopted at birth without the knowledge of the father or her parents, from whom she had concealed her pregnancy. The 20-year-old believed her divorced parents would not give the baby a good home, the court heard yesterday.

But a legal guardian and a local authority took her case to the county court, where she was ordered to tell them.

The Court of Appeal overturned that, and ordered the local authority not to take any action to inform the father, nor to take any steps to have the woman meet any of her mother's family in order that they be assessed as potential carers.

Lord Justice Thorpe said: "The law improves the opportunity of the child of anonymous birth to search out its biological origin. However, the ultimate veto remains with the mother."

But John Baker, chairman of Families Need Fathers, told the BBC: "It treats the child as the property of the mother, to be disposed of as she sees fit."