By MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A woman who promised a sperm donor he would not have to pay child support cannot renege on the deal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled.

The 3-2 decision overturns lower-court rulings under which Joel McKiernan had been paying up to $1,500 a month to support twin boys born in August 1994 to Ivonne Ferguson, his former girlfriend and co-worker.

"This court takes very seriously the best interests of the children of this commonwealth, and we recognize that to rule in favor of (McKiernan) in this case denies a source of support to two children who did not ask to be born into this situation," Hon. Max Baer wrote in the majority opinion issued last week.

"Absent the parties' agreement, however, the twins would not have been born at all, or would have been born to a different and anonymous sperm donor, who neither party disputes would be safe from a support order," Baer wrote.

Ferguson and McKiernan met while working together at Pennsylvania Blue Shield in Harrisburg and had a sexual relationship that had waned before Ferguson persuaded him to donate sperm for her. The two agreed that McKiernan would not have to pay child support and would not have visitation rights, but Ferguson later changed her mind and sued.

Between the time of the donation and when Ferguson sought support in 1999, McKiernan moved to Pittsburgh, got married and had a child.

A county judge called Ferguson's actions despicable but said it was in the twins' best interests that McKiernan be required to support them. In addition to monthly payments, McKiernan was also ordered to come up with $66,000 in back support, although he was not required to do so until the appeal was resolved.

McKiernan noted that the Uniform Parentage Act, a model law adopted in some form by at least 19 states but not Pennsylvania, did not require anonymity in order to protect the donor from financial responsibility.

His lawyer, John Purcell Jr., said Wednesday an adverse decision would have jeopardized the entire system of sperm donation.

"That wouldn't just include Pennsylvania, because we found out in the course of this trial that many doctors order their sperm for their artificial inseminations out of state," he said.

Hon. J. Michael Eakin, in a dissent, said a parent cannot bargain away a child's right to support and argued that the viability of sperm banks was not the issue.

"The children point and say, ‘That is our father. He should support us,' " Eakin wrote. "What are we to reply? ‘No! He made a contract to conceive you through a clinic, so your father need not support you.' I find this unreasonable at best."

Elizabeth Hoffman, Ferguson's lawyer, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment left at her Harrisburg office.