Surrogate Case Appealed to Supreme Court

Continuing a long legal quest, a surrogate mother has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether she has parental rights to a 2-year-old Tustin boy.

Attorney Richard C. Gilbert, arguing that his client, Anna M. Johnson, has been the victim of a “shameful collapse” of the judicial system, said Sunday that a petition was mailed to the nation’s highest court early last week. The court could decide by this fall whether Johnson’s claim will be accepted for review.

The new appeal comes less than two months after the California Supreme Court ruled that Mark and Crispina Calvert were the legal parents of Christopher Michael Calvert.

The state court ruling was the first in the nation to decide whether the woman who provided the ovum or the woman who gave birth was the natural mother of a child.

Johnson, a nurse, carried the fetus for the childless couple for $10,000, then changed her mind and sought to keep the baby. The child has lived with his genetic parents since birth.