A RIGHT "NOT TO BECOME A PARENT"?: Howard Bashman
"The plaintiff argues that the Kentucky paternity and child support laws are inconsistent with sexual and procreative 'privacy' rights recognized by the Supreme Court." Do Kentucky statutes requiring a natural father to pay child support for his son born out of wedlock violate the substantive due process protections of the Fourteenth Amendment? Today a unanimous three-judge panel of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the arguments of the father, a lawyer proceeding pro se, that the right to procreative privacy "includes the right to decide not to become a parent even after conception" and "must extend to both biological parents" so that Kentucky's statutory scheme must be invalidated because it "imposes parenthood on biological fathers while denying them any right or opportunity to decide not to become a parent after conception." You can access today's ruling
at this link.
Today's opinion begins by stating that "Plaintiff-appellant, a lawyer, brings his own pro se action and appeal against the mother of his child born out of wedlock and her husband, the stepfather of the child." While the plaintiff was permitted to initiate the action using only his initials, and thus the official name of the case is
N.E. v. Hedges, the listing of counsel in today's opinion includes the full name of counsel for the appellant.
link
posted by Eve at
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