One of the most important questions raised by today's advanced assisted reproductive technologies is who are the parents? Naturally, intended parents want to ensure that they are the legal parents of the child. Likewise, surrogates and women and men who donate their eggs and sperm want to ensure that they are not declared by any court to be the legal parents of any offspring that result from their donation. California law has clearly answered this question in a favorable light for intended parents and donors. The seminal case in the area of infertility law is Johnson v. Calvert (1993) 5 Cal. 4th 84. In Johnson, a surrogate mother filed an action to be declared the mother of the child despite having signed a contract which relinquished all parental rights to the intended parents. Ruling for the intended parents, the Court held that the woman who intends to bring about the birth of a child that she intends to raise as her own, is the "natural mother." In reaching its conclusion, the Supreme Court recognized that genetic consanguinity and giving birth to a child are two means of establishing parentage. In the event that they do not coincide in the same woman, then the woman who intended to bring about the birth of the child and raise the child as her own, shall be found to be the natural mother.
Another important case in the area of infertility law is Buzzanca v. Buzzanca, Sup. Crt. No. 95D002992 (filed 3/10/98). In the Buzzanca case, the Buzzancas hired a surrogate and an anonymous egg donor to conceive a child. One month before that child, Jaycee, was born, Mr. Buzzanca filed for dissolution of the marriage and tried to deny any parental responsibility for Jaycee. The California Appeals Court held that Mr. and Mrs. Buzzanca are the legal parents. The Court concluded that parental relationships may be established when intended parents initiate and consent to medical procedures, even when there is no genetic relationship between them and the child.
