Custody Hearing in Surrogate Case Opens

A pivotal hearing in the landmark custody battle over a boy born to surrogate mother Anna Johnson opened this morning with testimony that any woman who delivers a baby is entitled to consider herself a parent, even if she has no genetic relationship to the child.

Dr. Michelle Harrison, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh, said the genetic makeup of a child isn’t all that dictates its parentage.

“She is the mother of the baby because she gestated and gave birth to this child,” said Harrison, referring to Johnson.

“What makes her a mother is her emotional and physical work in nurturing the fetus and the way in which her body builds the baby,” Harrison said. “It brings oxygen. It takes away waste. It protects the baby from bacteria and external assault.”

Today’s testimony kicked off what is expected to be a two-day hearing on who should be considered the legal parents of the boy Johnson delivered Sept. 19. Johnson, 29, who agreed to bear an infertile couple’s child for $10,000, contends that she is the child’s mother because she bore him and that therefore she should keep the baby.

Mark and Crispina Calvert, the couple whose embryo Johnson carried, are fighting for custody, claiming they are the baby’s only true parents because the child is made from their genetic material.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr. will decide who the baby’s parents are. If he rules that all three adults have parental rights, the decision could prove critical in future surrogate-parent cases.

Harrison, who has counseled Johnson six or seven times over the telephone, said Johnson has expressed deep feelings of attachment to the child and that it does not matter to Johnson that she is not genetically related to the baby.

Blood tests have shown that the Calverts are the genetic parents.

The Calverts’ lawyer, Christian R. Van Deusen, asked Harrison if her feelings about Johnson’s attachment to the baby were affected by a July 23 letter Johnson wrote to the Calverts in which she threatened to keep the baby if she was not immediately paid the remainder of her $10,000 fee. Harrison said that did not matter.

“Pregnant women faced with the loss of their baby say and do a lot of things to keep them,” Harrison said.

Van Deusen also tried to question Johnson’s credibility by bringing up her guilty plea to two misdemeanor counts of welfare fraud, but he was not permitted to do so.

“I don’t want to try that case in here, Mr. Van Deusen,” Parslow said.

Johnson’s attorney, Diane Marlowe, said in a brief opening statement that she objects to the “wrongful withholding” of the baby from Johnson. The infant is living temporarily with the Calverts. Johnson is permitted to visit twice a week.