Surrogate Files Appeal After Losing Rights to Infant : Courts: Anna L. Johnson says she will ultimately win the battle for parental rights to the child she bore.

Surrogate mother Anna L. Johnson, who lost a unique battle for parental rights to the child she bore, filed an appeal Thursday, saying that an outpouring of sympathy from the public has made her even more certain she ultimately will win.

Bathed in the hot light of television cameras, Johnson and her lawyer filed a notice of appeal in Superior Court. They hope to overturn Monday’s ruling by Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr., who said Johnson had no rights at all to the child she bore for an infertile couple, Mark and Crispina Calvert.

Johnson said that everywhere she goes, people are expressing “outrage” at the ruling, which denies her a role in the child’s life. People at the grocery store, on the bus and behind the ice cream counter have been expressing support and wishing her well in appealing her case, Johnson said.

“It still hurts,” she said. “My grieving hasn’t stopped. But I know eventually I will have him back, and that’s what’s getting me through this.”

Richard C. Gilbert, Johnson’s lawyer, criticized Parslow for rejecting Johnson’s contention that she had bonded to the infant while it was in her womb. But Gilbert believes the appeals court justices will decide the case differently.

“The judge was not bonded to his brain when he made this order,” Gilbert said. “You can’t take a baby away from his mother and expect society to tolerate it.”

Robert Walmsley, one of the Calverts’ lawyers, said he, too, has received overwhelming support for the couple. His office has received calls from half a dozen surrogate mothers who sympathize with the Calverts. A few have even offered to be surrogates for the couple if they choose to have another child, Walmsley said.

“Virtually everyone I’ve spoken with--attorneys, judges, just regular people out there--said they agree the judge did the right thing,” Walmsley said.

Johnson, 29, a single mother of a 3-year-old girl, was the first surrogate mother to seek parental rights and custody of a child that was not genetically related to her. Most surrogate mothers, such as Mary Beth Whitehead in the landmark Baby M case, have their own egg inseminated, so they are the genetic and natural mothers of the infants they bear.

Johnson had asked for a shared parenting arrangement, in which she and the Calverts all would be considered legal parents and have a role in raising the child.

But Thursday, Gilbert would not rule out the possibility that she might now ask the appeals court to give her exclusive custody of the baby.

Gilbert said he would seek an expedited appeal and he hopes for a decision within six months. But the appeals process often takes a year or more.