Idaho Lesbian Denied Custody of Child

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Why is this allowed?

https://www.ksl.com/?sid=44565565&nid=1418

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Grandparents, great-grandparents and even first cousins in Idaho can seek custody, guardianship or visitation rights to children in certain circumstances, but an unmarried same-sex partner cannot. But they can legally adopt if the other parent agrees.

Several states, including New Mexico, Washington and Nevada, allow women or men who consent to another woman's insemination to be legally considered the child's parent, even if the couple is not married, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

But a few states, including Idaho, are far more restrictive. Utah, for instance, prohibits anyone who lives with an unmarried partner, same-sex or not, from adopting.

In the Idaho ruling Wednesday, the high court decided unanimously that the woman identified only as Jane Doe has no parental rights to the 7-year-old child because her former partner is the one who was artificially inseminated and carried the baby and because the two women were not married.

A magistrate court dismissed her claim to be legally considered a parent under Idaho's artificial insemination laws, which state that an opposite-sex couple who has a child through that method can sign a form to establish legal paternity, but same-sex couples must go through adoption procedures.

Both sides appealed, and the Idaho Supreme Court agreed that the former partner had no parental rights. It also terminated her visitation rights.

"Mother made the decision to terminate the relationship between child and partner. She had that right, and while there may be a temptation to second-guess that decision, courts cannot do so," Idaho Supreme Court Justice Robyn Brody wrote for the court.