Genetic Parents Get Baby : Surrogate Has No Rights, Judge Rules

Declaring that surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson has no parental rights to the baby she was hired to bear, a judge today granted full rights to the infant’s genetic parents, Mark and Crispina Calvert.

In a sweeping affirmation of surrogate mother contracts, Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr. also refused to continue Johnson’s visitation rights to the 5-week-old baby boy while Johnson’s lawyers appeal the decision.

“I decline to split the child emotionally between two mothers,” Parslow said, adding that the genetic parents “should not have to live for the next 18 years waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

To a mob of reporters outside the courtroom, Mark Calvert said, “The time will come when our son will be aware of (his origins) and that we wanted him so much that we went through this ordeal.” Bitter about Johnson’s role, Calvert added, “The only bonding Anna Johnson has is with your television cameras.”

Johnson, who spent the morning in church rather than the courtroom, said at a press conference later that she was devastated.

“To sum up, in one word, heartbroken. . . . I’m in a deep state of mourning for my son,” she said.

Her lawyer, Richard C. Gilbert, said he will appeal.

“When the judge screws up at the trial level, it’s the baby that takes the fall,” he said. “And he screwed up.”

In a half-hour oral decision delivered to a packed courtroom, the judge compared Johnson’s role to that of a foster mother, who feeds, nurtures and may grow attached to the baby but may be required to relinquish the child to the natural mother.

In reaching his decision, Parslow said he relied heavily on the proven genetic link between the Calverts and the child, and he emphasized the importance of heredity. He said he found evidence about the bonding of the baby to the gestational mother to be less clear.

“It’s not an adoption ruling case. It’s not a baby-selling case. It’s not a Baby M case where we had natural mothers on both sides,” he noted.

The judge said he believes there is nothing illegal about surrogacy contracts like the one signed between Johnson and the Calverts, in which Johnson promised to carry the baby created from the Calverts’ egg and sperm in exchange for $10,000.

“The in vitro fertilization genie is out of the bottle, and you’re not going to be able to put it back,” Parslow said. Such contracts are enforceable, he said, adding, “Altruism aside, there’s nothing wrong with getting paid for nine months of what I understand to be a lot of misery and a lot of bad days.”

In a sweeping repudiation of Johnson, 29, the judge noted that she is an educated, articulate professional who had had multiple pregnancies and “offered to serve” the Calverts. “I cannot remember having seen a cooler witness testifying in court,” Parslow added.

The Calverts call the baby Christopher Michael, but he could not be legally named until the legal questions surrounding his birth were resolved. The baby’s guardian, William Steiner, said, “The first thing I’m going to do is put this baby’s name on a birth certificate.”