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Judge Orders Kansas Sperm Donor To Undergo Genetic Testing

A Kansas judge has ordered genetic testing to determine whether a man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple is the biological father of their 5-year-old daughter.

William Marotta of Topeka answered a Craigslist ad seeking a sperm donor in 2009. He didn't intend to be the child's father and signed a contract waiving parental rights and responsibilities while agreeing to donate sperm to Jennifer Schreiner and Angela Bauer.

The state began seeking to have Marotta declared the father in late 2012, so he could be forced to pay child support after the couple split up and Schreiner sought state health insurance for the child.

Shawnee County District Judge Mary Mattivi said on Friday that Marotta was more than a simple sperm donor.

Mattivi ruled in 2014 that the contract was moot, because Schreiner and Bauer didn't follow a 1994 Kansas statute that the judge said requires a licensed physician to perform the artificial insemination.

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