NYC woman had abortion at 20 weeks after paternity test — only to find out lab was wrong

A woman who was 20 weeks pregnant aborted her baby after getting the results of a paternity test — only to find out months later the results were wrong, according to a lawsuit.

A pregnant woman decided to have an abortion after getting the results of a paternity test - only to later find out the results were wrong. Picture: uStock

A New York woman made the decision to abort her baby after getting the results of a paternity test — only to find out months later the results were wrong, she said in a lawsuit.

Now instead of planning a baby shower and getting ready for her daughter’s impending birth, the woman is dealing with the emotional wreckage of losing her child and her long-term relationship because of the alleged error by Winn Health Labs in the Bronx and Ohio-based DNA Diagnostics Centerin the US, according to court papers.

“My daughter would have been born on the 17th” of April, she told The Post through tears. “I’m grieving.

“I just have a lot of emotions. These results were the reason why I decided to do what I did.”

The administrative assistant, 28, had been struggling to get pregnant with her then-fiance when they broke up for three weeks last summer in part because of the “stress and aggravation” from their inability to conceive, she said in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit.

During the hiatus, she had sex with someone else but used a condom during the encounter, claimed the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, The NY Post reports.

She and the fiance got back together, and by August, she was pregnant for the first time — and confident her longtime love was the dad.

“I was tracking my ovulation,” she said.

The woman had been trying to get pregnant with her fiance when the unthinkable happened. Picture: Obtained by The Post

But wanting to be completely sure — and not wanting to alert her fiance to the sex she had with another man during their break — the woman sought a paternity test with the other man.

The first two tests costs a total of more than $1,000 and results were inconclusive.

So the pair found DNA Diagnostics Center online, a company which boasts having done more than 20 million tests which can be used in court and touts itself as “world leaders in DNA testing.”

In October, the two travelled to a Winn Health Labs facility on Randall Ave in the Bronx, which is at the rear of a hair salon, to provide samples for the testing to be done by DNA Diagnostics, according to Manhattan Federal Court papers.

So confident that the pending test would show the temporary lover was not the father, she even hosted a gender-reveal party with her fiance while waiting for the results.

But a call from the lab on Halloween left her in “utter surprise, disappointment and frustration,” when she was told her fling was the babydaddy with “99.99% certainty,” according to court papers first reported by NBC News.

By then, she was nearly 20 weeks pregnant and staring down New York’s 24-week deadline for legal abortion. She was forced to reveal the mother of all dramas to her fiance.

“He just cried,” she recalled. “He asked, ‘Why would you go through a gender reveal?’ I told him, ‘Because I was positive it was yours.’”

The results she’d been given were due to an “IT error,” the lab told the woman, according to the lawsuit. Picture: uStock.

During a gruelling, two-day pregnancy-termination procedure, she had a change of heart. But it was too late and doctors could not save the baby.

“I wish I could reverse this,” she said.

Reeling, the woman and her fiance stayed together until Valentine’s Day — when DNA Diagnostics suddenly called with unthinkable news.

The results she’d been given were due to an “IT error,” the lab told the woman, according to the lawsuit. The man she had sex with only once was not the father of the child she’d aborted.

Devastated, the woman and her fiance ended their relationship last month.

“For 30 years, DDC has provided reliable and accurate testing to millions of customers,” the company said in a statement. “If any concern is raised, we take immediate action to validate the results and rapidly notify customers of any issues. We understand and appreciate the incredible amount of trust people place in us to get this right, and we expend every effort to meet that high standard.”

Winn Health Labs didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

The woman still doesn’t know how the error was made, her lawyer, Craig Phemister, said.

“When you know people are relying immediately on paternity tests to make life decisions, why did it take four months for them to call? It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Now she’s in therapy — and wants the labs involved held accountable.

“How many other people did it happen to?” she said.

This article orginally appeared in The NY Post and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as NYC woman had abortion at 20 weeks after paternity test — only to find out lab was wrong