Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy

	posted by Matt on 06:30 PM February 24th, 2005
	bandersnatch writes "From My Way, An appeals court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm was hers to keep. The ruling Wednesday by the Illinois Appellate Court sends Dr. Richard O. Phillips' distress case back to trial court. Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant. He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state. Phillips was ordered to pay about $800 a month in child support, said Irons' attorney, Enrico Mirabelli. Scary stuff for men. Is there any surprise some men prefer masturbation or the open arms of a prostitute?" and Anonymous User writes "A married woman in suburban Chicago impregnants herself with semen she kept from her lover and gains child support. A court ruled that he at least had standing to sue. You have to read it to believe it."

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Well with reasoning like this... (Score:1) by mcc99 on 06:42 PM February 24th, 2005 EST (#1) "She asserts that when plaintiff 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift - an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee," the decision said. "There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request." Phillips is representing himself in the case. He could not be reached for comment Thursday. "There's a 5-year-old child here," Mirabelli said. "Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth." Yeah, and there's a man here who has been betrayed and defrauded and the court has allowed it to happen, nay, encouraged it. If he had given her a gun and she shot him with it would they be using the same "reasoning" to let her off the hook? And he's still paying child support....

the other half (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 11:00 PM February 24th, 2005 EST (#2) In a world obsessed with reproductive rights, it's infuriating to be reminded again and again that men have absolutely no reproductive rights. Even worse than that, courts deliberately shackle men with with grossly conceived (sic) pregnancies. This isn't inequality.

The distress is so bad that it can lead to murder (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 02:47 AM February 25th, 2005 EST (#3) Most people can't imagine the gut wrenching anguish of forced parenthood. But it's all too real. The distress of forced parenthood has been cited as a motive in the high profile murder cases of Rae Carruth, Scott Peterson and Robert Blake. It's why all pregnant women risk being murdered. Another case is in the news now. You can listen to audio clips of men forced into parenthood describe the anguish in their own words. They talk out loud about shock, trauma and suicide.

Who should imagine? (Score:2) by HombreVIII on 03:03 PM February 25th, 2005 EST (#4) "There's a 5-year-old child here," Mirabelli said. "Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth." Exactly. The woman should have imagined all the problems the child would face as a result of her creating him in such a manner. Instead of thinking only of herself and her desire to have a child, and how she should get full custody and she should get lots of money in child support and her job should give her paid time off for being pregnant, she should have thought about the child's needs. She should have pondered about how to create the best environment possible to raise that child. Finding a man to marry so that the child would grow up in a two parent household wouldn't have been a bad idea. But no, her "I wanna kid and I want it now and I don't care who it screws over" attitude has created problems like the feelings of a 5-year old child upon hearing that his father was emotionally damaged by the circumstances surrounding his birth. Let's hold her accountable for her actions. What is she going to do to make up for them?

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