A former Texas resident has accused his children’s mother with becoming pregnant by way of deception and theft. He currently has joint child custody and is paying more than $800 a month in child support. The biological father of the 4-year-old twin boys is fighting for full legal custody.
The telecommunications manager stated the twins are the result of a six-month relationship with a woman in Houston. Court papers say the woman informed the 36-year-old telecommunications manager of her pregnancy in 2007, three months after the couple’s break-up.
A paternity test confirmed the ex-boyfriend was the father of the woman’s children. The biological dad said he thought his girlfriend had simply become pregnant by accident until more than four years later, when he received an unusual letter in the mail.
The notice was a laboratory receipt for sperm cryopreservation, which the man traced to a Texas fertility clinic. A manager at the Advanced Fertility Center said the clinic assumed the couple was married when it performed an in vitro fertilization procedure on the man’s girlfriend.
The Texas Uniform Parentage Act requires a single man to give written consent for the use of his sperm in IVF procedures. The clinic claimed it had the man’s signature and his blood sample. The father of twins claimed he supplied the clinic with neither.
When the surprised ex-boyfriend spoke to his former girlfriend, she allegedly said that he should have realized what she was doing. The girlfriend apparently asked the man to use unlubricated condoms and left their shared residence within minutes after the couple had intercourse.
The ex-girlfriend reportedly used her former boyfriend’s credit card and medical insurance to pay for IVF treatments. Her attorney says she never stole her boyfriend’s sperm from a condom.
The father now wants full custody of the twins. He is also suing his ex-girlfriend and the fertility clinic for reimbursement of child support and mental suffering. Hopefully the courts decide custody based on the best interests of the young children.
Source: ABC News, “Surprise Twins: Man Sues Fertility Clinic,” Christina Caron, Nov. 24, 2011