Man Ordered To Support Child Conceived Through Artificial Insemination

Last updated on Thursday, January 17, 2013

(DELAWARE CO.) - A Delaware County man will have to pay child support for two children conceived through artificial insemination, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

After filing for divorce from his wife, the Muncie man argued he shouldn't have to support the children because they were not biologically related to him.

After learning a previous vasectomy would likely not be successful, the man suggested taking a family friend up on their offer to donate sperm for an artificial insemination, court documents said.

An at-home kit was used to successfully produce a son in 2004. The wife discovered the family had kept the kit because he feared his son would be an only child. The at-home kit was used to produce a daughter in 2006.

Officials said the man raised the children as his own for 10 years before seeking a divorce."

The court ruled the children "were acknowledged by [Father] as his children, he supported said children, and he consented to the procedure by which they were created." Because of that, the court said both children qualify as a "child of the marriage."

The man has since cut off a personal relationship with the children.