{"id":475,"date":"2015-02-19T03:29:38","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T03:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2024-03-06T14:55:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T14:55:13","slug":"couple-entangled-in-sperm-donor-battl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/couple-entangled-in-sperm-donor-battl\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple Entangled In Sperm Donor Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"yates\"<\/a>Assisted Reproduction Laws need move into the 21st<\/sup> century family landscape. The modern family is changing especially with new IVF treatments emerging and more realistic legal parameters need to be in place so situations like Sheena and Tiara Yates will be a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sheena and Tiara Yates decided they wanted to have a second child, the lesbian couple sought out a sperm donor and drew up a contract in which the man agreed to give up his paternity rights – a measure they believed would spare them a second custody battle with a donor,\u201d wrote Bruce Shipkowski of the Associated Press. \u201cTheir child, conceived through at-home artificial insemination, is now 1, and the couple is again locked in a custody dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why? Because in New Jersey, a person who is the non-biological parent will only be recognized as the natural parent if the insemination process was done by a physician.<\/p>\n

Now, the sperm donor wants parental rights.<\/p>\n

While the couple did meet with their doctor, who examined Sheen Yates and was prescribed her prenatal vitamins in preparation for the pregnancy, the couple chose to do the insemination at home so they could avoid the medical costs.<\/p>\n

In an earlier report, Yates said, \u201cAll we want is a family, and we can\u2019t have kids without an outside party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yates went on to say how this whole legal battle is incredibly hard for the entire family.<\/p>\n

Shipkowski writes that Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, said the Yates\u2019 saga is a clear example of the outdated way courts perceive parenting. Holding onto this viewpoint is not accurately addressing the other options how children are born, including artificial insemination.<\/p>\n

She tells the reporter, \u201cOur laws really need to catch up to reality. It\u2019s children who are getting hurt.\u201d She also pointed out, \u201cThat judges don\u2019t always dig into the specifics of whether a doctor is directly involved in an artificial insemination procedure, but that biological fathers seeking to overturn earlier agreements often look for loopholes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sommer said there shouldn\u2019t be a looming \u201cgotcha\u201d just because a doctor wasn\u2019t in the same room during the insemination.<\/p>\n

Attorney John Keating represents Yates. He is hopeful that their case will cast more light on reproductive rights for those living in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

But Kimberly Mutcherson, a bioethics and family law professor at Rutgers University in Camden thinks otherwise, at least for the time being.<\/p>\n

She tells Shipkowski, \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much long been the case that the way that you protect yourself when you use donor sperm is by going to a physician. I don\u2019t see that changing any time soon. I think people and policy makers want there to be pretty clear rules. The problem is people don\u2019t know that\u2019s the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the west coast, CA Assembly Bill No. 2344, more popularly known as the \u201cModern Family Act,\u201d received its own share of media attention. It\u2019s a bill that addresses just this case.<\/p>\n

The premise of the \u201cModern Family Act,\u201d is to make the parental process swift for non-biological parents, such as in same-sex couples who require a sperm donor or egg donor.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Supervisor, Tom Ammiano, shared the following with GSN about AB 2344:<\/p>\n