## Facts

- K.M. and E.G. began a same-sex relationship in 1993 and later registered as domestic partners.
- Wanting children, the couple agreed that E.G. would undergo in vitro fertilization using K.M.’s ova and donor sperm.
- K.M. underwent ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval; embryos created with donor sperm were transferred to E.G.
- In 1995, E.G. gave birth to twin girls.
- The parties disputed intent: E.G. claimed K.M. agreed to be only a donor and signed a clinic form waiving parental claims; K.M. asserted the agreement was to raise the children together.
- E.G. was listed as the mother on the birth certificates; no father was listed. K.M. did not complete an adoption.
- The couple held themselves out to others as co-parents, and both acted as the children’s mothers during the relationship.
- The relationship ended in 2001. K.M. then sought a declaration of parentage and sought custody and visitation.

## Issues

1. Whether a woman who provides ova for her female partner’s IVF, with the intent that both will raise the children, is a legal parent under California parentage law.
2. Whether Family Code § 7613(b), which treats certain semen donors as non-parents, applies by analogy to an ovum provider in this context.
3. Whether a fertility-clinic “donor” waiver can extinguish or prevent legal parentage absent statutory procedures.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and held that K.M. is a legal parent of the twins.
- The court held Family Code § 7613(b) did not apply to a woman providing ova to her partner to create children to be raised in their shared home.
- The court concluded that California law can recognize two legal mothers when genetic and gestational maternity are split and both women intended to parent.
- The court held the clinic waiver was not controlling to eliminate parentage where statutory parentage rules and formal termination/adoption procedures govern.
- The case was remanded for custody and visitation proceedings consistent with K.M.’s parental status.

## Legal Principles

- California parentage law may recognize legal maternity based on genetic connection and intent to parent, even when another woman is the gestational mother.
- Family Code § 7613(b)’s non-parent treatment for certain semen donors is limited to its statutory setting and purpose and does not automatically extend to ovum provision between partners intending to parent together.
- Private fertility-clinic consent or waiver forms do not substitute for legislatively authorized mechanisms (such as adoption or termination proceedings) to determine or extinguish legal parentage.
- In assisted reproduction disputes, the parties’ intent to create and raise a child together, as reflected in their conduct, is highly relevant to determining parentage.

## Conclusion

The court held that where partners use one woman’s ova and the other woman’s pregnancy to have children with the shared plan to raise them together, both women are legal parents; neither the sperm-donor statute nor a clinic waiver negates that status.


K.M. v. E.G., 37 Cal. 4th 130 (Cal. 2005)