Pennsylvania Supreme Court Considering Case on Sperm Donors' Responsibility to Future Offspring

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 24 May 2005 - 11:00 PDT

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments last week on a case that juxtaposes the right of sperm donors to forfeit responsibility for offspring against the right of children to have financial support from two parents, the... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The case involves a man who agreed to donate sperm to a woman who agreed to absolve him of responsibility for any resulting children. However, five years after delivering twins, the woman sued the man for child support. A Common Pleas Court ruled that the binding verbal contract between Joel McKiernan and Ivonne Ferguson was invalid because it denied the rights of the twins to child support. The judge ordered McKiernan to pay $1,500 a month in child support to Ferguson. McKiernan appealed the case to Superior Court, which in July 2004 upheld the lower court's ruling. He then appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Details, Implications
In court last week, Justice Ronald Castille asked Ferguson's attorney, Elizabeth Hoffman, if upholding the lower court's ruling would make it difficult for women to obtain sperm from sperm donors. Hoffman said sperm banks would not be affected because an anonymous donor's contract is with the bank not the woman. She added that married women also would not be affected by such a ruling because state law says that children born to married women are assumed to be the husband's offspring. However, McKiernan's lawyer, John Purcell, said that if a court could invalidate a contract between a mother and father because the contract denied children's rights, it could invalidate a contract between a man and a sperm bank for the same reason. If Pennsylvania passes legislation to regulate sperm and egg donation in the state, which about 12 other states have done, the problem would be resolved, according to some attorneys (White Stack, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/20).

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