Same-sex custody battle could change definition of motherhood

Same-sex custody battle could change Florida law
March 04, 2012
James L. Rosica, Associated Press

A custody battle in Florida between two lesbians could fuel the growing national debate over the definition of motherhood.

It also might force state lawmakers to reconsider a 19-year-old law regarding the rights of sperm and egg donors.

The women, now in their 30s and known in court papers only by their initials, were both law enforcement officers in Florida. One partner donated an egg that was fertilized and implanted in the other. That woman gave birth in 2004, nine years into their relationship.

But the Brevard County couple separated two years later, and the birth mother eventually left Florida with the child without telling her former lover. The woman who donated the egg and calls herself the biological mother finally tracked them down in Australia with the help of a private detective.

Their fight over the now 8-year-old girl is before the state Supreme Court, which has not announced whether it will consider the case. A trial judge ruled for the birth mother and said the biological mother has no parental rights under state law, adding he hoped his decision would be overturned.

The 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach obliged, siding with the biological mother and saying both women have parental rights.

At issue is the 1993 state law meant to regulate sperm and egg donation. Scholars debate whether the constitutional right to procreate includes outside-the-body technologies used to conceive.

Also at issue are constitutional questions about gay people’s right to raise children and claim equal protection under law. Another appellate court ruled Florida’s ban on gays being able to adopt unconstitutional in 2010.

The biological mother, however, isn’t concerned about being a legal or social pioneer, her lawyer said. She just wants her child back in her life.

“She hasn’t seen her daughter in years, and it’s been terribly, terribly difficult for her,’’ said Robert A. Segal, a family law attorney in Melbourne.

The birth mother’s lawyer, Robert Wheelock of Orlando, did not respond to written questions sent by email.

The battle over what defines motherhood is being played out on prime-time television shows and in courtrooms across the country.

Lisa Miller, a Virginia woman who renounced her homosexuality, has been in hiding with her daughter since 2009 after a court ordered that her former partner, Janet Jenkins, be given custody.

The two entered into a civil union in Vermont in 2000. Miller’s own egg was artificially inseminated and she gave birth. The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately agreed with a Vermont judge’s custody decision; the case raised questions about one state’s duty to recognize same-sex relationship rights created by laws in another.