A Kansas man who thought he was helping a couple by answering an ad on Craigslist to donate his sperm, is facing legal responsibility of the child. Reports USA Today, William Marotta answered a Cragislist ad, in 2009, donating his sperm to a lesbian couple who was offering $50.00, which Marotta declined the exchange. Little did he know, years later, he was to be faced with the financial responsibility of their child.
Jennifer Schreiner and partner Angela Bauer, made a contract between William Marotta that severed Marotta’s parental rights. Although because they did not go through a doctor, Marotta is the legal father and should be held responsible for $6,000 in public assistance the couple received to care for the child, as well as future child support payments, the state argues.
Artificial insemination generally isn't covered by health insurance and the cost is between $2,000 and $3,000, according to Steve Snyder, who is a Minnesota-based attorney and chairman of the American Bar Association’s group on assisted reproductive technology.
Snyder also states that this sort of thing happens a lot, amazon.com provides home insemination kits for $29.95, and according to him LGBT couples use them. However Dr. Ajay Nangia, a former ethics chairman of the American Society of Andrology, says it sets up a tricky legal situation.
The problem is the guy exposes himself to a situation that made him potentially liable because he had no legal protection
Said Nangia, an associate professor of urology at the University of Kansas Hospital. However, Ben Swinnen, one of William Marotta’s attorneys says his client cannot be declared the father of Jennifer Schreiner’s daughter, who is now 3 years old, because of the written agreement between the three. Swinnen pointed to laws in nine different states that say a sperm or egg donor is not the parent of a child conceived through artificial reproduction.
Jennifer Schreiner had filed for public assistance in the beginning of 2012. Department of Children and Families claim that Schreiner lied on her application knowing who the father was of the child, she put “no idea-sperm donor”, Fox News reports. In October 2012, Marotta received a notice by the state to pay child support for the couple's 3 year old daughter.
A hearing is scheduled to take place next week for this legal matter.
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