Here's another story, this one from KYW in Philadelphia:

Deceased Sperm Donor Held Liable For Child Support
Provided Sperm To Lesbian Couple To Conceive 2 Children
(AP) HARRISBURG A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two
children is liable for child support under a state appeals-court
ruling that a legal expert believes might be the first of its kind.

A Superior Court panel last week ordered a Dauphin County judge to
establish how much Carl L. Frampton Jr. would have to pay to the birth
mother of an 8-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.

"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a
child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated
to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New
York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality
and the law.

But Frampton, 60, of Indiana, Pa., died suddenly of a stroke in March,
leaving lawyers involved in the case with different theories about how
his death may affect the precedent-setting case.

Jodilynn Jacob, 33, and Jennifer Lee Shultz-Jacob, 48, moved in
together as a couple in 1996, and were granted a civil-union license
in Vermont in 2002. In addition to conceiving the two children with
the help of Frampton, a longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's, Jacob also
adopted her brother's two older children, now 12 and 13.

But the women's relationship fell apart, and Jacob and the children
moved out of their Dillsburg home in February 2006.

Shortly afterward, a court awarded her about $1,000 a month in support
from Shultz-Jacob. Shultz-Jacob later lost an effort to have the court
force Frampton to contribute support, a decision that the Superior
Court overturned April 30.

Jacob, who now lives in Harrisburg, said Frampton provided some
financial support over the years and gradually took a greater interest
in the children.

"Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them,"
Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and
that was it. They called him Papa."

The process was very informal, Jacob was inseminated at home.

Lori Andrews, a Chicago-Kent College of Law professor with expertise
in reproductive technology, said as many as five people could claim
some parental status toward a single child if its conception involved
a surrogate mother, an egg donor and a sperm donor.

"The courts are beginning to find increased rights for all the parties
involved," she said. "Most states have adoption laws that go dozens of
pages, and we see very few laws with a comprehensive approach to
reproductive technology."

In his written opinion requiring Frampton to help pay for the child's
support, Superior Court Judge John T.J. Kelly Jr. noted that Frampton
spent thousands of dollars on the children, including purchases of
toys and clothing.

"Such constant and attentive solicitude seems widely at variance with
the support court's characterization of (him) having 'played a minimal
role in raising and supporting' the children," Kelly said.

The children knew he was their biological father and attended his
funeral, but Frampton opposed the effort to compel support from him.

"We made the argument that, according to Pennsylvania law as it
stands, there can really only be two adult individuals that can be
held liable for support in a child-custody case," said Frampton's
lawyer, Matthew Aaron Smith.

Shultz-Jacob's lawyer, Heather Z. Reynosa, wants Frampton's support
obligation to be made retroactive to when Jacob first filed for
support. Frampton's Social Security survivor benefits may also help
reduce Shultz-Jacob's monthly obligation.

It's unclear how the child-support guidelines, which assume two
parents, will be adapted to account for three parents.

"That's what's going to be interesting, because there's not a whole
lot of guidance out there," Reynosa said.

The state Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case, in
which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that
he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological
father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support.

About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform
Parentage Act that can shield sperm donors from being forced to assume
parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.