Court withholds
decision on lesbian couple's
request for parental
rights
BY KAREN SUDOL,
Asbury Park Press (app.com) from the Web, March 4, 2006
FREEHOLD, NJ -- A judge
reserved decision Friday on whether to grant a lesbian couple's request to list
both of their names as parents on the birth certificate of their son conceived
through artificial insemination.
Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reiser, sitting in Freehold, did not say when
he'll issue a decision.
The Highlands couple, 33-year-old Catherine O'Conor, who gave birth to the boy
last month, and 32-year-old Stephanie A. DiVita want to guarantee full parental
rights immediately by having both of their names listed on the birth
certificate.
It's the first such challenge in Monmouth County.
The state Attorney General's Office has argued adoption is the remedy to
establish DiVita's parental rights.
While the couple continues to pursue adoption, they maintain it is a costly and
lengthy process — taking between six and nine months. The boy could be
irreparably harmed during that time by not having all of the legal rights and
benefits of both parents, their lawyer, Robin Wernik has argued.
Wernik has said the state's artificial insemination statute — which grants
parental rights to a husband who consents to his wife's artificial insemination
by another man — should be extended to same-sex partners. Not doing
so violates the couple's state constitutional rights, according to the suit.
In May, a judge in Essex County granted a lesbian couple the right to have both
names listed on the birth certificate as parents of a baby girl, determining the
state had failed to show why same-sex domestic partners shouldn't be permitted
under the artificial insemination statute. The decision was the first of
its kind in New Jersey.
The Attorney General's Office maintains that the reference to paternity in the
artificial insemination statute doesn't extend to domestic partners.
O'Conor and DiVita registered in September 2002 as domestic partners in
Manhattan, which is recognized by New Jersey.
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