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Take ActionIndiana Donor Insemination Law
Existing State Laws. While Indiana has a number of statutes regulating medical testing of donor semen, there are no provisions of Indiana law regarding access to or conditions on the artificial insemination procedure itself.
Indiana law imposes a strict regime for the testing of donor semen for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. While this area of law does not deal directly with access to the procedure or conditions surrounding it, it does define artificial insemination without regard to the marital status of the parties. The law also explicitly does not apply to situations in which the donor is the husband of the recipient and thereby must take into consideration the insemination of unmarried women.
Cases Dealing with Donor Insemination. In one 1995 case, Straub v. B.M.T., an unmarried woman was impregnated by her male partner (Straub) via sexual intercourse, but only after he signed a hand-written contract divesting him of any parental rights or responsibilities. But after the child was born, the female partner sought to establish paternity and impose a support obligation on Straub. As part of his defense, Straub cited the contract and argued that he was not a traditional parent but merely a donor for the mother’s “artificial insemination.” The Indiana Supreme Court found that there was no artificial insemination involved and that it was against public policy to allow parents to contract away their rights and obligations. The court acknowledged that such a contract would be acceptable in a true artificial insemination context under the laws of other jurisdictions, but noted that Indiana law was silent on the subject.
Citations: BURNS IND. CODE ANN. TIT. 16, ART. 41, CHAP. 14 (2003); Straub v. B.M.T., 645 N.E.2d 597 (Ind. 1995).
Updated: Sun, August 29, 2004 - 11:00:09
