A woman preparing to give birth has
no obligation to notify the father when or where the birth will occur, a New Jersey court has ruled. And if the father does appear at the
hospital, the mother can bar him from entering the delivery room. The case appears to be the first of its kind nationwide.
The case arose after a couple conceived
a child, got engaged, but later called off the wedding. After the wedding was called off, they were
barely on speaking terms. The father finally
sued the mother and requested access
to the baby at the hospital after its birth. He didn't even request to be in the delivery room.
The court specifically ruled that fathers have no established legal right to be present at the birth of their children. Going further, the court also said that the father wasn't even entitled to know at which hospital the birth would occur.
The court first noted that he father’s presence could put undue stress on the mother and possibly harm the fetus. In this case, the mother had undergone testing for premature labor and stress. But, more importantly, the court pointed to the strong constitutional
and statutory protections afforded to all medical patients, not only pregnant
women. Basically, any patient can decide
who he wants to have at his bedside. The fact that they were dealing with the birth of a baby
had no consequence. The court ruled that any interest a father has before the child’s birth is “subordinate to the mother’s interests.”
This seems like a tough result, but it was the only logical decision for the court after it analyzed two landmark Supreme Court cases on abortion. The court cited Roe v. Wade from 1973 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey
from 1992. Both of those cases established stronger privacy rights for expectant mothers and their unborn child than their fathers. Specifically, the Casey ruled that women are not even required to tell their
spouses about abortions. An abortion seems like much more of a drastic situation than a birth, so the court ruled that the same privacy rights should be extended to births as well.
1 comment:
Very unique law In my whole life I never seen that kind of law. But it is good for pregnant women. There is no need of father's presence in the delivery room. Is there any family lawyer in Boca Raton for best legal consultation?
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