Child’s Interest Is Paramount : Judge makes a wise decision in Orange County surrogateship case

In ruling on a much-publicized surrogate parenthood case Monday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr. navigated the tricky confluence where science, the law and human emotions meet and came down squarely on the side of common sense.

The decision that a surrogate mother could not be considered a third parent came even as the traditional family unit has been undergoing dramatic change in American society. Scientific advancement and changing mores have opened up new possibilities--and problems.

Anna Johnson, the woman who agreed to a contract to carry the embryo of Mark and Crispina Calvert, wanted to claim a role in the baby’s upbringing when she began to feel attached to the life growing in her womb, and went to court to try and have herself established as a precedent-setting third parent.

But the judge upheld the contract and ruled that the surrogate was a “genetic and hereditary stranger” to the baby. He chose an appropriate model for defining Johnson’s role: She was, he said, like a foster parent, who may have special feelings for nurturing a child, but who is not to be mistaken for the real mother.

Many who have followed this case no doubt have developed their own attachment to the fortunes of a baby tugged in so many different directions that he was given two names. The judge contributed the much-needed wisdom called for in this nationally watched case by focusing his attention on the interests of the child.

The recognition of the surrogate as a third parent would, he said, “create confusion in the child.” In ending visitation rights for the surrogate and establishing custody for the biological parents, he said any future relationship the surrogate might have with the child would have to be in the baby’s best interest.

It is sad that courts have to play referee while society wrestles with the wizardry of science. It is also sad that more cases are bound to reoccur before the government puts restrictions on surrogateship-for-profit.