A New Jersey Court refused to terminate the parental rights of a sperm donor at the request of the donor and the mother of the child who was conceived with the aid of a turkey baster.
Opinion available below:
The appellate division held that a married woman had to adopt her husband’s child.
The child was created with her husband’s sperm and a donor egg. The resultant embryo was then transferred into a gestational carrier who gave birth to the child. The married woman argued that if she was artificially inseminated with donor semen, her husband would be considered the legal father pursuant to New Jersey statute. While the statute does provide for legal recognition of the husband, the Court distinguished this case and required an adoption.
Despite rulings from a Federal District Court and the Appellate Division of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Louisiana insists that the names of a child’s parents cannot be placed on their son’s birth certificiate because they are unmarried and Louisiana does not allow unmarried parents to adopt. The adoption was finalized in New York. A sixteen judge panel is scheduled to rehear the case today.
The Connecticut Supreme Court, on January 7, 2011, held that a gay man, not biologically related to his twins, could have his name placed on their birth certificates establishing legal parentage over them along with the twin’s biological father. This decision, if structured properly through an attorney, means that a gay family utilizing gestational surrogacy in Connecticut will no longer need to have the non-biological parent adopt the child in a second-parent adoption.
