Sunday, February 04, 2007

Vermont vs Virginia in Visitation

The custody/visitation case about Isabella Miller-Jenkins is not just a private heartache anymore -- it is fueling an ideological cause. I posed a similar case scenario to my bioethics class this past week, to illustrate the complexity of ethical, legal, and social issues in ARTs (assisted reproductive technologies) -- and in this case, the underlying 'culture wars' that this country is currently struggling through (from the Washington Post):

About Isabella
Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller got hitched and had a baby together. Vermont says that's a simple truth. The lower courts of Virginia said it was all null and void, but the Virginia Court of Appeals recently recognized that the Vermont courts held jurisdiction in this matter. The case may very well end up in the United States Supreme Court as a comity or conflict of laws dispute, but in the meanwhile, the future of a little girl hangs in the balance.

To read the whole article, click here.

2 comments:

Kelly Hills said...

I actually find that nauseating... ugh.

People make mistakes, including who they marry. They might make mistakes on who they have children with, too - but that doesn't give them the right to refuse parental rights to someone, just because they regret their past.

I can only hope that the Courts find Lisa's change of opinion as she became more engrossed in her fundamentalist beliefs telling, and hold her to her original statements and beliefs (beliefs that included taking child support).

Anonymous said...

The courts of Virginia will destroy Isabella -- see http://mommygobyebye-virginia.blogspot.com. ~Veronique Wyvell, RN, the MOMMY GO BYE-BYE blog, McLean, Virginia