Lesbian Ex-Partner Has Parental Rights: Florida Supreme Court
A woman who donated an egg to her lesbian partner can share parental rights to the child, the Florida Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
The 4-3 ruling directs a lower court to work out joint custody and visitation details, based on the best interests of the child, a 9-year-old girl.
“We conclude that the state would be hard pressed to find a reason why a child would not be better off having two loving parents in her life, regardless of whether those parents are of the same sex, than she would by having only one parent,” the majority opinion said.
The dissenting justices said the woman who provided the egg had signed two forms relinquishing any claim to any resulting child, and therefore is not legally her parent. They said the agreement to raise the child together “appears to have been oral” and was never formally executed, so it cannot be enforced.
The two women were in a long-term, committed relationship when they agreed to jointly conceive a child through assisted reproductive technology, court documents said.
The woman who bore the child was infertile. Her partner provided the egg, which was fertilized in vitro, the documents said. They raised the girl together until the relationship soured and the birth mother absconded to Australia with the child, the documents said.
More: Lesbian Ex-Partner Has Parental Rights: Florida Supreme Court