Court deals a setback to sperm donors

A state appeals court in PA rules that a sperm donor must pay child support. Frankly this is an insult to every couple unable to have children and an insult to very person willing to donate to help these people.

"The three-judge panel ruled Thursday that the deal between Joel McKiernan and Ivonne Ferguson -- in which McKiernan donated his sperm and would not be obligated to pay any support -- was unenforceable because of "legal, equitable and moral principles."

Despite an agreement that appeared to be a binding contract, the father is obligated to provide financial support, the court decided."

Source: www.cnn.com...

Its that last part that gets me. That the court is ignoring what appears to be a binding contract. Do we really want unaccountable people like these judges trying to preach morality? I hope a federal appeals court will eventually shoot this ruling down. If not this can be extremely damaging to the entire system. Not to mention what could be a blow to any privacy laws.

Edit: Change subject to something a little less.. well.. adult. lol


[edit on 7/24/2004 by Indy]

At first, I only wanted to respond to the absolute hilarity of the title of this post. I swear, it took me a few minutes to stop laughing and actually read it. Guess I just have a dirty mind.


Then I read the post.

If an agreement between to persons can be overthrown by the courts in child support cases, whats to stop it from happening to donations to sperm banks? If this happens, we're going to have alot of men behind bars for failure to pay child support. Think about it, Alot of men make many sperm donations(chuckle) to sperm banks, that means that one man could conceivably father a hundred children. How is a person supposed to support that many kids? I myself have donated... well... what I mean to say is... ahem... made a few donations. Hey, college is expensive and sometimes you need a little extra cash. Christ, I'm gonna go to jail.

[edit on 24-7-2004 by The Last Patriot]

OMG. Now that I read what I put in as the subject I have to laugh too. I hope a moderator will be kind enough to rename the thread :-)

On a serious note... don't you think these judges are seriously abusing their position to preach morality? Maybe one of these unaccountables can explain to parents unable to conceive why they are no longer able to find sperm donors. I hope a federal judge has enough b... er... intestinal fortitude to throw this ludicrous case out.