Just by entering the keywords “sperm, donor, custody” into a search engine you will see a tremendous amount of links that will take you to article upon article concerning what responsibility a donor has, mainly regarding if they are required to pay child support or not. Many people are harmed emotionally regardless of the outcome, including the children created by the donation.

Recently a ruling in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed a decision that required a donor to pay child support plus back support for twins that were born to a previous lover. Joel L. McKiernan and Ivonne V. Ferguson, previous co-coworkers and love interests, ended their affair of two years prior to Ferguson asking McKiernan to donate sperm.

Ferguson, married to another man at the time, promised McKiernan that he would not be liable for child support, but backed out on her promise and sued him to gain current and back child support for her twins. Being “in the twins’ best interest”, a judge awarded support. It was this ruling that was reversed by appeal.

This situation leads many to debate on what role a donor – sperm or egg – should or should not play within a child’s life they help to create. Visitation and child support are just two of the many emotional roller coasters that families will travel on. In the eye of a donor they are simply that, only a donor. They are not asking for any responsibility when offering their help.

Source: Pa. Sperm Donor Wins Child Support Case, The Associated Press, from CBS.com