LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two Nevada Supreme Court justices appeared troubled that a child born to one woman from the fertilized egg of her lesbian partner didn't have a legal voice in Family Court hearings about whether the birth mother has parental rights.
A lawyer for biological mother Veronica Damon argued Monday in Carson City that Nevada law doesn't automatically grant parental rights to someone he called a "gestational surrogate."
Sha'Kayla St. Mary's lawyer argued that birth mother St. Mary is on the birth certificate and on a fertility clinic document as the "non-biological parent."
But a Clark County judge ruled Damon is the legal mother of the girl born in June 2008. He said St. Mary could seek visitation rights.
Justices Kris Pickering and Nancy Saitta asked whether the child's interests were considered.
