Sperm donor ordered to pay child support to lesbians

TwoShedsJackson

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011209/od/life_sweden_sperm_dc_2.html

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A court in Sweden has ruled that a man who donated sperm for artificial insemination, enabling a lesbian couple to have three children, must pay child support after the two women separated, a Swedish newspaper reported on Sunday.

The regional daily Nerikes Allehanda said on its Internet Web site a county court ruled that the man was undoubtedly the children's biological father and hence obliged to pay child support of $265 per month after the women's 10-year relationship broke up.

The verdict poses a legal dilemma, however, because under Swedish law a sperm donor is not regarded as the legal parent of children conceived with the help of his semen.

Sperm donors, however, are normally strictly anonymous, while in this case the man was a friend of the couple and his identity as the father is in no doubt.

The man has appealed.

So if you're that desperate for cash think before you go down to the sperm bank. Maybe they should have hooked them up with the 'arty tosser' to ensure the child would be 'creative'

WhiteWashMan

and i bet they even used a turkey baster and not the good old fashioned way of having a threesome.
w@nkers!

C B

An absolute disgrace in my opinion. This serves neither the interests of the children, nor the donor, and it will result in fewer people willing to donate, hurting hundreds of childless couples in the process.

Two people (lesbians in this case) made a joint decision to have a family, and take all the responsibility that goes with it. As their decision was a physical impossibility somebody (the donor) offered to facilitate it. At no point did he take on the responsibility of a family, that is not to say that he was irresponsible as he obviously believed that the couple would have made good parents.

Now suddenly ten years later he is being held accountable for the decisions of other people.

Some may argue that he has a responsibility to his biological children and that his involvement would be in the childrens interests. However this is unlikely to be the case. The courts can force him to give over a monthly payment but they cannot force him to be a responsible or loving parent. It is never in a childs interest to have a half-hearted resentful and superfluious parent hanging about. The identity of sperm donors is kept a secret to allow for the greatest stability possible for children. It reduces the potential for custody attles and eliminates the possibility of a parent who can choose to drift in and out of a childs life when it suits him.

I for one certainly hope that this dangerous precedent is overturned on appeal.

neuro-praxis

CB, you said it all.

DeadBankClerk

!seen Legaly Blonde