In 2014, former “The View” co-host Sherri Shepherd came under fire after reports surfaced showing she wanted “nothing to do” with her unborn child now that her marriage is ending. Shepherd and husband, Lamar Sally used IVF to conceive a child but is apparently uninterested in caring for the baby, who is being carried by a surrogate mother.
As LifeNews previously reported, Sally said in an interview that Shepherd has removed the newborn baby boy she had via surrogate from her health insurance. Shepherd tried to force the surrogate mother to pay child support.
A judge eventually ruled Shepherd is financially responsible for her child. But, now, she is appealing the decision.
Sherri Shepherd is appealing a judge’s ruling that her name be listed on the birth certificate of her surrogate son and that she pay her ex child support.
The View host and her lawyers had been arguing that she should not have to pay child support for the son she and her ex-husband Lamar Sally agreed to have while they were married, who they named, Lamar Jr.
The couple’s surrogate was seven months pregnant when Shepherd filed for divorce.
Shepherd’s team lost their case in November shortly before Thanksgiving, and nowThe Legal Intelligencer reports that Shepherd is taking to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, arguing ‘lower courts usurped legislative authority in ruling Shepherd’s surrogacy contract made her the legal parent of the resulting child.’
But she refused to accept the court’s decision so her attorney was in the Court of Appeals on Monday, October 5 to argue this decision.
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Sally’s attorney was also there along with the surrogate Jessica Bartholomew’s attorney and the attorney representing the baby to argue to the three-judge panel why the court’s orders should be upheld against Shepherd.
After the arguments were completed on October 5, Sally’s lawyer Tiffany Palmer told DailyMail.com: ‘You cannot walk away from this baby just because your marriage failed.
‘And amazingly, Sherri brought this case to Pennsylvania, instead of New Jersey where she lives, because there are no laws on the books for or against surrogacy here, so Sherri is trying to get it outlawed in this state just to avoid paying child support.
In a previous report, the surrogate mother said, “I could not believe this is happening. When I decided to do this for them, I didn’t think ever that this could happen. I just don’t understand how she could do that and act like this baby is non-existent. It just blows my mind….I’m angry at Sherri because she never once contacted me to tell me what was happening. She would call and check up on me during the pregnancy in the beginning. At the 20 week appointment she seemed so excited.”
This ragic situation demonstrates one of the many problems with IVF. If an egg donor changes her mind about the baby, then legal questions can arise about who will raise the child and if they will be held financially responsible after the child is born. The second problem with IVF is that unused or unwanted embryos are often discarded or destroyed.
Unfortunately in 2011, a study in the journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine revealed that 19% of unused embryos are discarded and 3% are donated for scientific research.
Additionally, a technique called “selective reduction” is sometimes used after in vitro fertilization. This is because to increase success rates IVF practitioners often implant more than one embryo in the woman’s uterus in hopes that at least one will take. Then if more embryos than are desired implant, doctors “reduce” the pregnancy down to the desired number.
