When are sperm donors legal parents?

Are sperm donors legal parents? How do states treat sperm donors and egg donors differently under the law. Yale Law Professor, Douglas NeJaime explains how states vary wildly when in comes to rules on sperm donation. For example according to Prof. NeJaime, some states only provide sperm donors with protections to avoid being treated as a parent where the birth mother is married. Unmarried recipients of donor sperm in such states could then sue their donors (if they can identify them) for child support. Prof. NeJaime and host, Joel then discuss other examples where sperm donors who did not wish to be treated as parents were assessed parental responsibilities as well as cases where men who donated sperm then wished to assert their rights as the genetic father to have a role in their child's life. Finally NeJaime shares insights on egg donations, including examples where the use of egg donation has been used to attempt to disqualify a non-genetic mother from obtaining custody or parental rights. Douglas NeJaime is a professor of law at Yale Law School and a national leader on parentage law and family law reform relating to assisted reproduction. ► For more legal explainers and interviews with the titans of law: http://www.talksonlaw.com ► For a longer interview with Prof. NeJaime on assisted reproduction and parental rights: https://www.talksonlaw.com/talks/assisted-reproduction-and-parental-rights ____________________ TRANSCRIPT Interview with family law expert, Douglas NeJaime 0:00 Generally states don't treat sperm donors as parents 0:52 Exceptions where sperm donors are considered parents 2:04 Example where a donor was treated as a parent in court 2:57 Example of actor Jason Patric re. visitation rights 4:16 Other examples of donors who claimed parental rights 5:09 Legal rights relating to egg donation 6:00 Example of egg donation used to attack non-genetic mother's parental rights