Should sperm donors have to pay child support?

[Lace Neil Singer]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22488113

Basically, this woman promised this guy that if he got her pregnant by donating sperm, he wouldn't have to pay child support; then she went and took him to court anyway. The court ruled in favour of the man.

[Greenday]

Thank God. Apparently legal contracts mean nothing anymore? That first judge was a freaking moron.

If I EVER donate sperm, I'm getting it down in writing that I'm not paying a penny for anything.

[Seshat]

If the intended-mother knew at the time of conception that she was choosing to raise the child with no financial support from the genetic father: hell no!

She's made a free choice of her own free will to take on the parenting of the child on her own. She has committed to providing the child everything the child needs, off her own bat.

If she neglects the child, or through accident or illness becomes incapable of continuing to raise the child, then the sperm donor becomes one of the interested parties. The courts and standard family law can take it from there and do what's in the best interests of the child, the child's relatives, and any guardians named in a will/living will.

But the mother has no right to ask the sperm donor for anything: she made a free choice to raise the kid on her own.

Now, what happens when the child becomes adult and he wants to find his father? THAT is a sticky ethical dilemna and I don't have any informed opinions there. The only friend I have who I know was adopted considers her adoptive parents to be the only parents she wants.

[rahmota]

Apparently legal contracts mean nothing anymore

Sad to say no they don't mean as much anymore. According to US federal law if a person is a genetic parent of a child and the child or custodial parent goes on public assistence the state can force the genetic parent to pay child support. Regardless of any other contracts, contact, wishes of the custodial parent or signed note from god hirself.

In the case of the news article thats just stupidity in action.

And to answer the OP question. No a person should have the ability to sign a contract to remove all rights, priviledges and associations with any person, portion or part of their body. If the person is donating sperm to a company anonymously then they should remain anonymous. Totally and absolutely. No records no history of the person exisitng in any system. Yeah this means that down the road if the kid wants to know who their genetic parent is they are shafted but oh well. Its more than blood that makes family. My best friend is adopted and doesnt care who his genetic parent was.

Hell the child support system is a rip off and rigged system that needs a major enema.

The only thing I say would be to develop genetic screening for the sperm/eggs and make sure about any diseases but other than that. Oh well.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Women that pull crap like that (among other things; there are those that will deliberately fuck up their method of BC and deceive their partner for the express purpose of getting knocked up) REALLY piss me off. 1, they give the majority of women a bad rap, and 2, they make it harder for us to get BC/sterilization (because "all women want baaaaabies!") AND harder for those that do need child support/alimony to get those things.

This reminds me of the Baby M case back in the '80s. For those that don't know, Baby M was the result of a surrogate deal between a couple and a woman who agreed to carry the couple's genetic material in her body to term (because apparently the wife was infertile or something like that). But when Baby M was born, the woman reneged on the agreement, and a bitter court battle ensued. (I don't remember the eventual outcome; for all I know it could still be ongoing)

[Pedersen]

(I don't remember the eventual outcome; for all I know it could still be ongoing)

Per Wikipedia, the Sterns (the couple who was infertile) won custody on best interest of the child grounds. When Melissa turned 18, she formally terminated all motherhood rights for Mary Beth Whitehead, and had herself adopted by Elizabeth Stern, all through various legal proceedings.