Sperm Donor for Lesbian Couple in Kansas May Be On the Hook for Child Support

A Kansas man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple may be on the hook for child support, if the state government gets its way.

William Marotta found Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner asking for a sperm donor on Craigslist. They were offering $50 per donation, but after consulting with his wife, Marotta waived the fee.

He signed a contract with the couple relinquishing any parental rights. The contract also said Marotta would not be held responsible for any "child support payments demanded of him by any other person or entity, public or private, including any district attorney's office or other state or county agency, regardless of the circumstances or said demand."

At the time, the Bauer and Schreiner were in stable financial circumstances, with Bauer working full-time and Schreiner staying home with the children the couple already had.

But since then, the couple has broken up, and Schreiner applied for financial assistance from the state of Kansas.

And Kansas wants Marotta to pony up child support for the 3-year-old girl Schreiner conceived with his sperm.

The state says the contract he signed doesn't apply, because the artificial insemination wasn't performed by a licensed physician.

"My understanding is that after being pressed on paternity of the child, [Bauer] gave them William's name as a sperm donor. The state then filed this suit to determine paternity," said Hannah Schroller, Marotta's attorney.

For their part, both Bauer and Schreiner feel the state should honor the original contract.

"This was a wonderful opportunity with a guy with an admirable, giving character who wanted nothing more than to help us have a child," said Bauer to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "I feel like the state of Kansas has made a mess out of the situation."

"More and more gays and lesbians are adopting and reproducing, and this, to me, is a step backward," said Bauer.

"I think a lot of progressive movement is happening currently in the world as far as gays and lesbians go. Maybe this is Kansas' stand against some of that."

The legal positions on sperm donation and paternity vary widely, as laws adapt to the relatively new technology.

In some instances, courts have ruled that a man whose sperm is used without his knowledge can still be held liable for child support.

The Kansas case centers around the lack of a physician during the insemination. But advocates for sperm donation point out that Marotta and donors like him are not present for the procedure and have no way to determine whether a physician performs it, even when given written assurances that it will be.

As Schroller put it, "Any woman in Kansas could have sperm donations shipped to her house, inseminate herself without a licensed physician and seek out the donor for financial support because her actions made him a father, not a sperm donor. This goes against the very purpose of the statute to protect sperm donors as well as birth mothers."

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