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A Court Ordered Sherri Shepherd to Pay Child Support for a Baby Not Biologically Her Own

A Pennsylvania court ruled Monday that Sherri Shepherd must pay child support for a baby she and her then-husband Lamar Sally had via surrogacy — even though the couple split three months before the child in question was born.

The baby boy is the biological product of Sally’s sperm and a donor egg, meaning Shepherd is not his biological mother. In April, despite her protests, Shepherd was legally declared the child’s mother on the birth certificate (initially, the surrogate mother was listed).

Shepherd maintained the surrogacy and subsequent lawsuits were all part of Sally’s elaborate and protracted plan to defraud her. The court was unconvinced, ruling the TV personality must continue paying $4,100 per month in child support, which will increase to $4,600 when the child reaches adolescence.

shepherd2Source: Mic/Getty Images

Shepherd “does not dispute that she freely entered into the gestational carrier contract,” the Superior Court ruling stated Monday, according to the Associated Press. “Baby S. would not have been born but for [her] actions and express agreement to be the child’s legal mother.”

Sally has since been vocal about the victory, speaking to a number of media outlets about the ordeal. “I’m glad it’s finally over,” Sally told People. “I’m glad the judges saw through all the lies that she put out there, and the negative media attention. If she won’t be there for L.J. [the baby] emotionally, I’ll be parent enough for the both of us.” He israising the child in Los Angeles.

Melissa B. Brisman, owner of the New Jersey-based surrogacy firm, Reproductive Possibilities LLC, which Sally and Shepherd used, celebrated the decision too.

“Surrogates don’t want to feel that someone could want a baby and then just back out,” Brisman said, according to the Associated Press. “The surrogate is not the mother.”

Don’t be a baby about it: The battle is one of a number in recent years that navigates the legally murky waters of conception and pregnancy assisted by technology and who, exactly, is liable for the resulting life. Many noted the parallels in Shepherd’s ordeal to that of actress Sofia Vergara’s, who in May was sued by her ex-fiancé, Nick Loeb, to preserve and use their biologically shared frozen embryos.

In an op-ed letter published in April in the New York Times, Loeb wrote, “keeping [the embryos] frozen forever is tantamount to killing them.”

Shepherd’s case involves a number of complicated elements. Beyond the hairy legalities that come into play with technologically assisted conception is this less-common instance of a mother being ordered to pay child support.

While Shepherd, with a reported net worth of $10 million, does not likely run the risk of finding herself in a financially inequitable dynamic, a 2011 study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found, on average, mothers liable for child support earn substantially less than their male counterparts.

childsupportORIGINALLY WRITTEN & PUBLISHED BY: Natasha Norman from Mic [11/25/15]

Obama Encourages Americans to Show Compassion for Syrian Refugees in Thanksgiving Address

President Barack Obama used his weekly address this Thanksgiving to call on Americans — as well as a list of governors vowing to reject Syrian refugees from resettling in United States — to open their hearts and homes to those in need of the nation’s generosity.

In his remarks, titled “This Thanksgiving, Recognizing the Greatness of American Generosity,” he said, “Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims – men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families. What makes America America is that we offer that chance. We turn Lady Liberty’s light to the world and widen our circle of concern to say that all God’s children are worthy of our compassion and care. That’s part of what makes this the greatest country on Earth.”

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He continued, “Thanksgiving is a day for food and football and for hoping the turkey didn’t turn out too dry. But it’s also a day to count our blessings and give back to others — a reminder that, no matter our circumstances, all of us have something to be grateful for.”

The message follows a bill passed in the House of Representatives on Nov. 19 that aims to limit the number of Syrian refugees entering the United States by requiring strict background checks and security clearances. Obama has already vowed to veto any sort of legislation deterring his administration’s plan of increasing the number of refugees fleeing the Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria to 10,000 throughout the 2016 fiscal year. The topic has become contentious within the federal government throughout the weeks following the Nov. 13 Paris terror attacks.

“I’ve been touched by the generosity of Americans who have written me letters and emails in recent weeks offering to open their homes to refugees fleeing the brutality of ISIL,” Obama said in the address. “Now, people should remember that no refugee can enter our borders until they undergo the highest security checks of anyone traveling to the United States. That was the case before Paris, and that is the case now. And what happened in Paris hasn’t stopped Americans from opening their arms anyway.”

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However, not all Americans agree with this sentiment. There have been growing concerns surrounding refugee resettling in the U.S. since the deadly terror attacks in Paris were found to have been organized, in part, by aterrorist who traveled freely to and from Syria while being watched by several government agencies.

Still, Obama reassured Americans in his weekly address refugees entering the U.S. have the strictest vetting process in place out of anyone entering the country. He encourages the nation to offer aid rather than fear, saying, “all God’s children are worthy of our compassion and our care.”

Watch President Obama’s entire address below:

Originally Published by: Chris Riotta at Mic [11-26-2015]