Imagine deciding to have a child with your spouse using Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), going through that emotional process, including the hormone tracking, administration of medication through injections, regular medical appointments, choosing a sperm donor, and a significant expenditure of funds. Imagine how excited you and your spouse are when she gets pregnant: you call family, send out announcements, register for all the baby things, send out baby shower invitations, and get the nursery ready. And then your spouse suddenly says, “Nope, I’m done with you, and since you are not the biological parent to this child, I’m going to walk away from you, and you are no longer allowed to be the other parent to this child that we planned and intentionally created.” And then, imagine it takes you nearly three years before you receive a court order that finally says Yes, you are the parent and you have exactly the same rights to that child that you planned and intentionally created as does the parent who carried that child.
A Real Story Of Heartbreak
This is precisely what happened in Glover v. Junior, 333 A.3d 323 (Pa. 2025), a case that was decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in March of 2025. This case was heartbreaking – a married lesbian couple decided to have a child. As a same sex couple, one of their options was to use ART, impregnating one of the partners with donated sperm. They did everything together to get ready for their baby, even setting up all the legal paperwork for a second-parent adoption for after the child was born (a legal procedure we propose all same sex couples do as extra protection for their parental rights for non-friendly LGBTQIA+ states and countries). But because of the constraints of PA law, when the parent who was carrying the child decided she no longer wanted the other partner involved, she was able to cut them off completely, until the PA Supreme Court said otherwise. Therefore, the non-biological parent was not at the birth, was never able to change diapers, didn’t see the child’s first smile, didn’t see his first step, or hear his first word, and missed his first birthday and Mother’s Day.
The PA Supreme Court Weighs In
Eventually the PA Supreme Court heard the case and said No, this is not right: Couples who want to have children don’t sit down and negotiate with each other about who will have rights; they don’t enter into contracts between themselves about whether they are both parents; they don’t consult with lawyers about their respective roles. Rather, the PA Supreme Court recognized that families are created out of love and all families deserve respect:
We will not require those parents who use ART to transact or bargain with each other. The decision made within a loving couple to have a baby is generally not a quid pro quo, and we decline to put courts in the position of parsing through couples’ actions to determine whether they were done gratuitously or as an exchange for consideration. We prefer to recognize a more dignified means to establish parentage for couples who use ART to conceive.
“Parentage By Intent” in Pennsylvania
As of March 2025, parentage in Pennsylvania can now be established by “intent” for couples undergoing the ART process. Therefore, if parties intend for both of them to serve as parents, that will confer parentage upon the party who is not biologically related. It means that the non-biological parent does not need to prove anything other than that the parties created a child with the intent that the child would have two loving parents. Proof of intent can be demonstrated by the announcement of the happy couple’s upcoming addition to the family, the jointly named baby registry, or the contracts signed by both parties with the sperm donation agency. It can be proved by the typical things that most couples do when creating and expanding their family.
Hopefully, this new legal principle of “parentage by intent” means no other mother or father will miss out on the first two and a half years of their child’s life. Hopefully, it means that no child will be denied the love and attention of their other intended parent. Hopefully, it means that couples can create families and both parents can be treated respectfully and equally.