California: Equal Parental Rights

Summer's over, school's begun. Time to start posting more frequently. Serendipity struck this morning, when on my way to work I heard on NPR that yesterday the California Supreme Court ruled on three cases involving separated lesbian couples and their parental rights. I posted on one of these cases last year, here and here.

In that case (K.M v. E.G.), the California appeals court had affirmed the lower court decision that the biological mother who had had her eggs harvested for fertilization and implantation in her partner, who then gave birth to twins, had waived her parental rights as part of the egg harvesting process and therefore had no parental rights to her children, to whom she was not only biologically related but had parented for years prior to the couple's separation.

The California Supreme Court yesterday overturned that decision. The three decisions add up to an equalization of the law between heterosexual and lesbian couples when it comes to parental rights and reproductive technology (these cases all involved lesbian couples in which one partner became pregnant through a joint decision - unknown if or how the rulings might be used in cases involving gay men who coparent). Basically, the court held that when a lesbian couple decides jointly to have a child, their later dissolution of their relationship will not dissolve any parental rights or responsibilities of either partner, whether or not the couple had registered under California's domestic partner registry system.

The three cases were K.M. v. E.G. (above. Case summary. Opinion.), Elisa B. v. Emily B. (the nonbiological ex must pay child support. Case summary. Opinion.) and Kristine H. v. Lisa R. (the ex may not invalidate a previously made declaration of parental rights. Case summary. Opinion.).
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UPDATE (8:35): I attended the national convention of the American Constitution Society at the end of July. The video of one of the panels, "Sexual Orientation and the Battles over Adoption, Custody and Foster Care," is available at the ACS National website. It was a lively panel that included Judge Rosemary Barkett (dissented in the 11th Cir. Court of Appeals decision upholding Florida's ban on adoption by gay or lesbian individuals or couples), Matthew Coles of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, Prof. Lynn Wardle of Brigham Young University Law School , Prof. Kenji Yoshino of Yale Law School and moderator Prof. Suzanne Goldberg of Rutgers School of Law - Newark. Check out the video if you have some time available.
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UPDATE (8/25/05): Interesting article on these decisions and how anti-gay groups are now arguing against "the best interests of the children."

Also, a similar case was argued before the Supreme Court of Washington earlier this year, but the decision has not yet come down. The case is In re parentage of L.B.; Sue Ellen (Mian) Carvin v. Page Britain, and is an appeal from 121 Wash.App. 460. In this case the nonbiological mother of a child conceived by mutual agreement and raised together was denied visitation or joint custody after the couple's breakup. The lower court dismissed her action seeking establishment of parentage, and the appeals court reversed and remanded in that she can petition for shared parentage or visitation, and also for visitation under a third-party statute. HRC has a concise rundown of Washington's laws guiding the courts in custody decisions.