Texas Judge Tells Lesbian Mother She Has No Rights To Child She Didn't Bear

Comment at bottom of story: "Just for arguments sake, suppose the couple were a man and a woman who had a child via a sperm donation. Would the judge make the same decision? The male parent is not biologically related to the child as Erica is not. What am I missing?" Story out of Knoxville, Tennessee:

If Erica Witt were a man, she would have just as much right to a daughter conceived via artificial insemination as her spouse.

But in the first ruling of its kind in Tennessee, a Knox County judge on Friday opined that because she is a woman who legally married a woman, state law does not confer to her the power of decision-making over the child or the obligation to provide financial support for the girl now that the same-sex couple is divorcing.

"I believe this is a situation where (Erica Witt) has no biological relationship with this child, has no contractual relationship with this child," 4th Circuit Court Judge Greg McMillan ruled.

Erica Witt and Sabrina Witt legally wed in Washington, D.C., in April 2014, bought a home in Knoxville and decided to have a child via artificial insemination from an anonymous donor. Sabrina Witt bore a baby girl as a result in January 2015. Because Tennessee did not then recognize same-sex marriage as legal, Erica Witt's name was not placed on the baby's birth certificate.

In February, Sabrina Witt filed for divorce. Her attorney, John Harber, contended the only law on Tennessee's books addressing parenting rights in the case of artificial insemination — enacted in 1977 — makes clear the law applies only to husbands.

"That terminology is not interchangeable," Harber argued at a hearing Friday.

Tennessee still doesn't have a law on the books officially recognizing same-sex marriage but is essentially under a mandate to do so due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to marry. That ruling did not address divorce or parental rights in a divorce in which neither same-sex partner legally adopted the child they call their own.

Even if McMillan eventually awards Erica Witt visitation rights, his refusal to recognize her as a parent means she will have no say in issues including the child's education and medical needs. The decision means she is under no obligation to pay child support either. Cont.

Story from - Knoxville News Sentinel
Image from - Wikimedia Commons