Keeping Your Eye on The Right Relationship: Another CA Lesbian Claims Holding Out Parentage

Here’s a case from CA that follows a path similar to one taken in a case  I discussed last week.   As in that earlier case, a female second parent claims parental status by invoked the gender neutral version of the holding out doctrine.   The court’s discussion of that argument in this case highlights some critical points.

First the facts:   In 2002 JV was in a relationship with Brian P.  She became pregnant.   (I realize we’re all likely to assume that Brian P is genetically related to the child, but you’ll find, as you read on, that this has never been established.   There’s a bunch of interesting side issues raised by his role which we can discuss if anyone cares to.)

The relationship between Brian P and JV fell apart during her pregnancy and he played no role in preparations for the birth of a child.  

Genetics and The Extended Family

Here’s a thought-provoking story from the front page of the NYT.   As is often the case it is worth reading because I’m sure different things will strike different people.  I’m just going to touch on a couple of things that strike me.

Khrys Vaughn learned she was adopted when she was 42.    She decided to search for her origins by using a company that provides DNA testing and then matches you up with people you’re related to.   Through this process she located a third-cousin, Jennifer Grigsby.  

Update on Three-Parent IVF

For some time now I’ve been following a new ART technique that is being developed in the UK.   It’s back in the news again and since it fits rather nicely with a topic I raised yesterday, it seemed like a good time to revisit the topic.

You can certainly go read the explanation, but here it is in a nutshell.   A small number of women with healthy nuclear DNA carry defects in their mitochondrial DNA.  If the eggs from these women are used for reproduction there’s a chance that the offspring will have genetic disorders transmitted via the mitochondrial DNA. 

It Just Takes One: ICSI Comes to the Rescue of A Single Sperm

I’ve written about ICSI (that intracytoplasmic sperm injection) in the past.  It’s a technique that allows fertility docs to take sperm and inject them into the egg.  This means they can be immobile, ineffective or (I think) virtually dead.   You basically put them where they need to go.   

While there are some concerns about this technique (some say that the sperm who cannot find their way there on their own are more likely to produce flawed offspring) you can also see the appeal.  ICSI eliminates many instances of male infertility.   This story illustrates the point.     

Jason Schrialdi had but a single sperm to work with.  

The Durability of Motherhood

I’ve been thinking about this article, which originally appeared in the NYT on Sunday.   It’s about Judith Clark, who is serving a very long prison term resulting from her involvement in the Brinks Robbery.   (You can read about the crime in the first few paragraphs of the story.)  Clark was arrested on the day of the robbery–October 20, 1981–and has been in custody ever since.   At the time of her arrest she had an 11-month-old daughter, Harriet.   This story is largely a portrait of the mother/daughter relationship between the two women.

Clark was and remains a single mother.   Her relationship with her daughter is shaped by the fact that she has been in custody for virtually her daughter’s entire life.  Harriet daughter has no memory of a time before her mother was in prison.    

The Ethicist on Past Egg Donation

A quick note about the lead question in The Ethicist today.   (For those who are not avid followers, the ethicist is Ariel Kaminer.  While I’m not sure what her qualifications are, she accepts ethical questions posed by NYT Magazine readers.   In general I find the questions and her answers interesting and she’s a great deal better than the guy who originated the column and was opinionated without being thoughtful (in my opinion, of course.))

The question is posed by a woman who was an egg provider 15 years ago.   She regrets this and has no interest in learning the outcome of the transaction.  But now she’s getting married and thinking of having kids and she asks whether she should tell her fiance. 

When A Step-Parent Can Be A De Facto Parent

Still playing catch up here, but this discussion sort of ties back to the one about Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell and holding out from the last few days.    There’s a recent Washington opinion  that looks at interesting questions about step-parents and de facto parents.

It’s important to know at the outset that WA has a strong de facto parent doctrine.   The doctrine was established in In Re LB, a case between lesbian co-parents.   While it isn’t easy to meet the standard for de facto parent, if you do meet it, then you get parental rights in WA.

It’s unremarkable that WA also has step-parents

NC Offers Compensation for Sterilization

Some months ago I wrote about the sorry history of involuntary sterilization in North Carolina.   At the time, North Carolina was considering what compensation would be appropriate.   The appointed commission made it’s recommendations yesterday.  The recommendation is for compensation of $50,000 for those still living.  North Carolina, assuming it approves the payments, will be the first state to offer compensation, though it says about half-a-dozen states had similar programs.  I don’t have comments on this, I’m just following up for those who are interested.  

Lesbian Motherhood/Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, II

I promised a follow-up to yesterday’s post and here it is.  If you haven’t read yesterday’s, then you should go back and do that now.    You can read about the case here or you can read the actual opinion of the court.

Remember that SY and SB were in a long-term lesbian relationship, but SY was a colonel in the US Air Force and so the relationship was something of a secret.   SB adopted two children.   When the women split up, SB claimed that SY wasn’t a parent and hence had no right to see the children.  Yesterday I noted that SB argued (unsuccessfully) that since SY hadn’t tried to adopt the children herself and that this should count against her.    The court rejected this argument, in part because an effort to adopt would have necessitated disclosing the relationship between SY and SB, which might well have ended SY’s military service.   (For more on this, see yesterday’s post.)

Once you decide that the failure to adopt isn’t disqualifying you get to what is really a more important question:  

Lesbian Motherhood And The Lingering Impact of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

I’m still playing catch-up, writing about cases from the end of the year.   Here’s an interesting case out of CA.   The full opinion is here.  I’m sorry to say that it is yet another in the line of “lesbians behaving badly” cases–by which I mean cases where one lesbian co-mother attempts to use the law to deny and destroy her lesbian co-mother’s relationship with the children.   But I’m happy to report that in this case, the attempt was unsuccessful.

This is also a case that shows the distorting influence of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in contexts where you might not expect to find it.   And though it has been a year since the repeal of the policy was announced, you can also see that the lingering effect of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” could last for some time.