The use of sperm donation to create families for same sex couples also creates some murky legal ramifications for the couple involved and any children conceived.
If they are lesbian and their partner will be the one giving birth to the child, they may not have any parental rights, depending on the circumstances. Although the rights of same sex couples have improved in recent years, there are still many gray areas for them and the donors who help them. Examples of this include the following:
Sperm Donor Forced to Pay Child Support
In 2007, British fireman, Andy Bathie, then aged 37, was ordered to pay child support for his biological son and daughter who had been conceived after he donated his sperm. He was approached by a lesbian couple five years prior and they asked him to help them have a family. Several of the women’s male friends had refused the same request.
Mr. Bathie said he was assured by them that he would have no financial liability for the children and no personal involvement in their lives.
After the lesbian couple split up, he was then contacted by the child support agency who demanded he take a paternity test and pay maintenance.
“These women wanted to be parents and take on the responsibilities that brings. I would never have agreed to this unless they had been a committed family. And now I can't afford to have children with my own wife - it's crippling me financially.”
Mr. Bathie’s case is the first of its kind in the UK.
Lesbian is Not the Legal Parent of Ex-Partner’s Child
In another case, a lesbian couple began a relationship in 1994. One of them, known only as "T," became pregnant after undergoing artificial insemination at a licensed clinic. The couple separated in 2007, upon which "B," the non-birth parent, made an application for custody of the child. She was granted joint custody with "T."
Despite being given joint custody and being recognised as the child’s "social parent," a further court hearing ruled that "B" did not have to pay child support because she was not the child’s biological or legal parent.
Lesbian Denied Visitation
In a case in America, a court in New York ruled that a lesbian, Debra H, had no visitation rights with her ex-partner’s child, despite the fact that he was born one month after their civil partnership and she had acted as his parent for the previous five years since his birth and he thought of her as one of his mothers. The court argued that she could not have visitation rights because she had never adopted the child.
So if the person is in a lesbian relationship and they want a family, or they are a man considering donating sperm, they need to know the law and their legal rights before they do so.
US Law on Same Sex Parenting
US law on same sex parenting varies by state so check your own state laws, but as a general rule:
- The woman who has given birth is classed as the child’s legal mother.
- Her female partner is not classed as the "other parent" unless they are in a civil partnership and she adopts the child in a co-parenting arrangement (lesbian and gay adoption is not permitted in Florida).
- Visitation rights may not be allowed if the non-birth parent did not adopt the child.
- If a man donates sperm through a licensed fertility clinic, he will not be recognised as the legal father and will have no rights to the child, nor will he have any financial obligation.
- However, if he donated his sperm in an informal arrangement at home, without the help of a medical professional or at an unlicensed clinic, then he is classed as the legal father and can be sued for child support or try to gain custody himself.
- If he had sex with the child’s mother in order to conceive the child, he is also classed as the child’s legal father.
Sources:
The Guardian, 4th December 2007
The Telegraph, 17th June 2010.
Wcbstv.com, 10th April 2009.
USA Today, 5th January 2007.
Joanna Karpasea-Jones - I have been a health writer since 1997 when I published my own newsletter, SHOTS. I have written 2 books on childhood health, and write ...
