Sperm donor is not responsible for child support, Kansas judge rules

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A Kansas judge has ruled that a Topeka man who donated sperm so two women could have a baby together isn’t legally the child’s father and doesn’t have to provide financial support.

The state Department for Children and Families had not decided as of Tuesday whether it would appeal last week’s ruling by Shawnee County District Judge Mary Mattivi.

The department sought to force William Marotta to pay child support for the girl born in December 2009.

Marotta answered a Craigslist ad from the same-sex couple. Kansas law says a donor providing sperm to a doctor for insemination isn’t legally a father, but the two women didn’t use a physician.

The women later separated. Mattivi ruled the woman who didn’t give birth is the girl’s second parent.