The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a child-custody battle between two women.
There’s not a clear precedent in the state for same-sex custody disputes like this one.
The Brevard County couple conceived their daughter using one woman’s eggs and the other’s womb. But, ever since the couple split up, the birth mother has denied the biological mother custody.
Justice Barbara Pariente asked whether a biological mother should have the same constitutional rights as a man who fathers a child out of wedlock.
“Is that not a situation that at least implicates equal protection of women, at least to have equal protection as men?" Pariente asked.
But the birth mother’s lawyer says, Florida law requires egg donors to waive parental rights.
But the child was born before a judge struck down Florida’s ban on gay adoption in 2010. So, the biological mother’s lawyer says, the couple could not create a mutually binding custody agreement.