Parental rights and assisted conception: an interesting news story

In a recent case, the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the parental rights of a man whose son was conceived by using a turkey baster, finding that a turkey baser does not qualify as “medical technology” and therefore the assisted conception statute does not apply.

The Virginia assisted conception statute defines an “assisted conception” as:
    a pregnancy resulting from any intervening medical technology, whether in vivo or in vitro, which completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as the means of conception. Such intervening medical technology includes, but is not limited to, conventional medical and surgical treatment as well as noncoital reproductive technology such as artificial insemination by donor, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, in vitro fertilization, uterine embryo lavage, embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and low tubal ovum transfer.

Virginia Code § 20-158(A)(3) states that in an assisted conception scenario, a donor is “not the parent of a child conceived through assisted conception, unless the donor is the husband of the gestational mother.”

See the full article published by the Associated Press at:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/virginia/virginia-court-affirms-roanoke-dad-s-rights-in-turkey-baster/article_bbfeef9a-80b4-5406-a8e1-d6352883d5ad.html.

By Kari Jackson, Associate at Hall & Hall, PLC