UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

Sperm Donor Liability | A New Trend?

It has not been unusual for gay and lesbian couples to arrange privately for surrogacy or for a donation of sperm from a friend or third party in order for a couple to inseminate one of the lesbian partners so that they can bring children into their family. A recent case involving the latter method of procreation may result in lesbian partners being forced to use clinics approved for A.R.T. rather than an informal gift from a friend or acquaintance.

A Kansas man, William Marotta, donated sperm to a lesbian couple after answering a Craigslist ad placed online by Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner. Bauer and Schreiner were seeking a sperm donor. After exchanging emails and meeting, the three signed an agreement relieving Marotta of any financial or paternal responsibility. The couple accomplished the artificial insemination themselves using a syringe, and Schreiner eventually became pregnant. Late last year, after she and Bauer broke up, because Kansas does not recognise same-sex marriage, Schreiner, who bore the child, was awarded sole custody, Bauer was not liable for  child support, and Schreiner applied for Title IV-D benefits. So the state came after Marotta for child support.

Surrogacy | Mother Who Gives Birth to Twins Held to be their Mother

Just when you think life could not get any stranger . . . along comes another story that no one could have made up. A Houston mother who gave birth to twins in July 2012 was challenged by a male friend who had convinced her to bear the children using his sperm and donor eggs. The twins were born prematurely. While they were hospitalized, the mother, Cindy Close, was sued by her friend. He claimed that since she had no genetic ties to the infants, they belonged to him and she had no parental rights. There was no written surrogacy agreement. Only then did Close realize that her friend was gay and intended to raise the children with his partner.

Surrogacy | One Woman's Way of Making Ends Meet

I've written quite a bit about non-traditional familes. An opinion piece in today's New York Times made me far more aware about surrogacy issues. This is not something that would ever have occurred to me. I'm not saying it's terrible. To me, it is very thought-provoking in this day and age of increasing numbers of non-traditional families.

In Sunday's New York Times, Susan Straight wrote about her neighbor for whom surrogacy is a way of helping her family pay day-to-day bills. Straight wrote:

Difficulties Establishing & Protecting Legal Family Ties | Same Sex Couples

The New York Times took a look at the obstacles faced by same sex couples attempting to establish legal ties to children. With A.R.T., many lesbian couples choose to have children. In some states, where same-sex unions are recognized by law, some obstacles are not present--school enrollments, for example. In Your Money, the NY Times explores some of the benefits that these couples have to give up. Included is the right to survivor benefits from Social Security. Some couples have to give up rights to retirement plans of a partner.

When the couple has minor children, how do couples protect their children? The article discusses the challenges faced by these parents and how some choose to accomplish this.

From New England Medical Journal: Good News on ART

A New England Journal of Medicine study reports today that live-birth rates after assisted reproductive technology can approach those seen after natural conception. Using registry data, researchers estimated cumulative live-birth rates for almost 250,000 women undergoing more than 470,000 assisted reproductive cycles from 2004 through 2009.

• The researchers found

LGBT Rights in the US, State by State

The Guardian has published some very interesting data regarding the civil rights (by statute) for gay, lesbian and transgender people on a range of issues, including marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, housing, employment and school bullying. The charts are illuminating, to say the least. Laws in America have evolved to allow — but in some cases ban — rights for LGBT folks on those issues.

The interactive charts published by the Guardian show the trends. By region, the Midwest and the Southeast are the most conservative and offer LGBT folks the least.

To view these interactive charts online, click here.

Catholic School Teacher Fired for Attempting IVF

Emily Herx, teacher of literature and language at a Catholic school in Indiana, has filed a lawsuit arising from the school's termination of her contract because she and her husband are using IVF in an attempt to conceive a second child. Herx claims that the Catholic school’s monsignor refused to renew her contract and that he referred to her as a "grave immoral sinner." 

Her lawsuit claims that the catholic school 's monsignor refused to renew her contract because of her use of in vitro fertilization. Herx said that the monsignorcalled the treatment an "intrinsic evil," which means no circumstances can justify it. After the birth of her first child, Herx had become medically infertile.

ERISA-based Plan not Required to Pay Surrogate's Birth-related Expenses

Is an ERISA-based employee medical benefit plan required to pay birth-related hospital expenses incurred by a surrogate mother? In an unpublished Michigan appellate decision, the answer is NO.

Facts of the case: Lehr (“surrogate mother”) became pregnant with triplets after being implanted with embryos created by third parties. Spectrum Health Hospital (Spectrum) treated the surrogate mother during her pregnancy. Third-party defendant NGS American, Inc. (NGS), the administrator of the surrogate mother’s employee medical benefit plan, denied coverage for Spectrum’s services.

The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy | Modern Family of Choice & Its Ethical Dilemma

Ruth Padawer has written a fascinating article, “The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy,” recently published in the New York Times Magazine section. I have to say Padawer literally took my breath away. There are so many questions; the choices are so personal. The reduction of a multiple pregnancy involves ethical, religious, social, moral, emotional and personal dilemmas. Obviously, ultimately, the choice is made by the prospective parents.

The reduction of a pregnancy from twins to a singular child, however, is a procedure only recently available. Padawer writes of young and not-so-young mothers pregnant with twins each of whom chooses, for various reasons, to have reduction in the pregnancy so that she will bear only one child. Most often, this procedure is sought after fertility treatments.