Lesbian couple, surrogate mother and sperm donor in three-year legal battle over right to be child's parents

A child was at the centre of a legal tussle between a lesbian couple, a surrogate mother and a sperm donor over who was its legal parents, it emerged today.



The three-year battle ended in the High Court with the child's custody being awarded to the gay women.

But the judge's decision has left the wife of the donor traumatised and upset at the 'selfish' determination of the lesbian couple to have a baby.

 

She told the Sunday Times: 'Unfortunately, one thing I have learnt about couples who want to have children at any cost is that they are ultimately selfish.The only thing they think about is their need for a child.'

 

Sperm frozen in liquid nitrogen is preserved at a laboratory

 

The wrangle involving the wife, given the alias 'Ann 'by the paper, and her businessman husband 'Michael' began after he contacted a sperm donation website.

Donors normally remain anonymous until the child becomes an adult at 18, but Michael wanted the lesbian couple to know him and arranged to donate privately.
The two women were infertile and used a friend as a surrogate who donated her own eggs making her and Michael the child's genetic parents.

The lesbian couple then tried to legally adopt the child which is usual in cases involving a sperm donor and surrogate, but were turned down by their local authority.

To get round this, the Sunday Times claims the surrogate mother temporarily changed her surname by deed poll to that of one of the lesbians and this was put on the child's birth certificate.

The child was raised by the couple as their own until the night when Ann broke down and wept at a dinner party for friends and told their story to the guests.

One of them was a lawyer who reportedly said that since the two women were not the child's legal parents, it could be taken into care by social services at any time.
But Michael lost when he took the case to the High Court and now he and his wife have changed their will so that an inheritance can only be divided between the children they have together.

Ann had backed her husband's involvement in donating sperm, but now believes wives should be consulted and counselled before giving them the go-ahead.
She told the paper: 'No one ever thinks of the wives of the men who donate and the pain they go through.'

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