Meet Britain's most prolific surrogate mum!

London, Jan 20 : A British woman has turned out to be a record-breaking surrogate mother by carrying another couple's baby for the eighth time.

The surrogacy is controversial because Jill Hawkins, who has no children of her own, not only suffers from clinical depression but she has previously attempted suicide.

According to her family, the psychological strain of carrying so many kids has spoilt her mental health.

The 43-year-old, who is being paid for past 16 years to have babies, earlier said that she would quit being a surrogate mum after giving birth to her last baby, Isobel, in 2006.

However, Hawkins said that she later felt 'broody' and missed being pregnant, and thus decided to continue with it.

She also insists that her low self-esteem over her weight is responsible for her depression and not her multiple surrogate pregnancies.

"I was feeling particularly broody at the time and so offered to complete their family. I just wish I was 10 years younger so that I could fit more in. I really love being pregnant," Times Online quoted Hawkins, as saying.

Phil Willis, chairman of the committee that scrutinised the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, said: "We have to make sure women are not psychologically damaged as a result of surrogacy and that the practice is not open to profiteering."

ANI