http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews...that_male.html

Superior Court holds sperm donor responsible for child support for
children of separated lesbian couple
Posted by Reggie Sheffield/The Patriot-News May 09, 2007 13:00PM
In what legal experts are calling a precedent, a three-judge panel of
the state Superior Court has ruled that a York County man must pay
child support for two children of a lesbian couple for whom he acted
as a sperm donor.

Quoting an earlier court decision, Senior Judge John T.K. Kelly wrote
that "stepparents who have held a child out as their own are liable
for support; biological parents who have exercised the rights
appurtenant to that status can be no less bound."



Overturning a Dauphin Common Pleas judge's ruling in the case, Senior
Judge John T.K. Kelly Jr. cited a 2004 ruling by Dauphin Common Pleas
Judge Scott A. Evans

Jodilynn Jacob and Jennifer L. Shultz-Jacob were a couple who lived in
York County and who had undergone a commitment ceremony in Pittsburgh
and a civil union in Vermont.

The couple cared for four children, two of whom were adopted nephews
of Jacob's and the other two who she had with Carl Frampton, a
longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's who had agreed to act as a sperm
donor. Frampton is also named as an appellant in the case.

In February 2006 Jacob and Shultz-Jacob separated, with Jacob moving
from York County to Dauphin County. The separation was followed by
Shultz-Jacob asking a York County judge for full legal and physical
custody of all four children.

Later, Jacob asked a Dauphin County judge for child support for two of
the children from Shultz-Jacob, arguing that Frampton was "essentially
a third parent" to two of the children. Frampton died from a stroke
earlier this year.

Kelly noted in his opinion that Frampton had held himself out as a
stepparent to the children by being present at the birth of one of the
children, contributing "in excess of $13,000" over the last four
years, buying them toys and having borrowed money to obtain a vehicle
in which to transport the children.

"While these contributions have been voluntary, they evidence a
settled intention to demonstrate parental involvement far beyond
merely biological," wrote the judge.