S. U. v. C. J.

West Virginia identified unmarried biological stranger gestational surrogate C.J. as the legal mother of S.U.’s children against S.U.’s wishes and in contrast to the original intent of the parties pursuant to the State’s self-operative code § 16-5-10(e) which presumes that the woman who gives birth is the mother. The State then placed S.U.’s children in the sole custody and control of their gestational surrogate and indefinitely suspended S.U.’s custody and visitation by speculating that harm would come to S.U.’s children if S.U. told them that C.J. was not their biological mother. S.U. is the actual biological mother of his children and the biological father is an anonymous donor. When S.U. consented to the adoption of his children by his wife C.U., the State ignored the fact that S.U. is the biological mother of his children and held that consent was required by C.J. who the State recognized as the biological mother of S.U.’s children. C.J. chose, and was permitted, to detain and keep S.U.’s children. S.U. and C.U.’s marital children live with them while S.U.’s children born via gestational surrogacy are forced to live as strangers from their biological siblings and parent. The questions presented are whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires equal protection of biological parents, and their resulting children, who utilize gestational surrogacy to procreate; and, if a State violates the Fourteenth Amendment when it uses a false presumption of maternity to separate fit biological families.