Mum loses court fight to strip ex of motherhood

Sheriff says case showed ‘level of disappointment and bitterness’ in pursuer

A COURT has rejected a bid by one of Scotland’s first same-sex parents to strip her ex of “motherhood” after a bitter split.

The woman, who gave birth to twin boys after artificial insemination, filed for a declaration of non-parentage against her former partner.

She brought the case – thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland – after the Nuffield private hospital in Glasgow who helped her conceive lost papers that showed her ex had accepted parental responsibility.

The children’s second mother has no biological connection with the twins, now aged seven.

The couple were together for almost eight years. They were not married or in a civil partnership but they shared a home, a car and holidays.

They decided they wanted to start a family together in 2007, a year into their relationship.

The birth mother twice failed to conceive using a friend as a sperm donor.

In 2009, the twins were conceived through artificial insemination.

The second mother was present at the twins’ birth and was at the hospital every day for two weeks afterwards while they were in the special baby care unit.

She and the birth mother split in 2014 and the birth mother claimed they were not in a stable relationship when they had the twins.

But at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month, Sheriff Wendy Sheehan said: “I did not accept the pursuer’s evidence that the relationship was not a committed one.

“Her evidence disclosed a level of disappointment and bitterness stemming from the difficulties between the parties in the latter part of their relationship and the breakdown of their sexual relationship.”

The sheriff accepted evidence from hospital staff, family and friends that the decision to have the twins was a joint one.