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24 Mich. J. Gender & L. 53 (2017)
Prenatal Abandonment: Horton Hatches the Egg in the Supreme Court and Thirty-Four States

handle is hein.journals/mjgl24 and id is 61 raw text is: PRENATAL ABANDONMENT: 'HORTON HATCHES THE EGG' IN THE SUPREME COURT AND THIRTY-FOUR STATES (Jvfary (,W 'Beck* This article addresses an issue critical to forty-one percent of fathers in the United States: prenatal abandonment. Under prenatal abandonment theory, fathers can lose their parental rights to non- marital children if they do not provide prenatal support to the mothers of their children. This is true even if the mothers have not notified the fathers of the pregnancy and if the mothers or fathers are unsure of the fathers'paternity. While this result may seem counter- intuitive, it is necessitated by demographic trends. Prenatal aban- donment theory has been structured to protect mothers, fathers, and fetuses in response to a number of social factors: the link between pregnancy and increased rates of sexual assault, domestic violence, and domestic homicide; the high non-marital birth rate; the com- monality of casual sexual relationships; the likelihood that non-mar- ital children will live in poverty; and poverty s deleterious effects upon children. The 2013 United States Supreme Court's decision in Adop- tive Couple v. Baby Giril endorsed prenatal abandonment theory and elevated the rights of pregnant women and fetuses while tying an unwed fathers rights to the responsibilities he assumes from the moment of conception. This Article analyzes relevant socio- demographics and comprehensively reviews existing case law to con- clude with recommendations for the structure ofprenatal abandon- ment theory as it now exists in various forms in thirty-four states. Emeritus Professor of Clinical Law. Professor Mary Beck taught in Schools of Nursing and Medicine for thirteen years before joining the Missouri University law faculty in 1993, as Director of the Family Violence Clinic. Her work includes representing indigent domestic violence survivors and dying custodial parents in a law school-based practice; consulting in adoption, assisted reproductive technology, and surrogacy in a private law practice; serving as a faculty member and administrator in schools of nursing and medicine; working as a certified family nurse practitioner at the Columbia Free Clinic, at publicly funded walk in clinics, and at Missouri University Hospital and Clinics; representing clemency clients; and drafting multi-state and federal legislation involving birth parents' rights, adoption of children, stand-by guardianship, and domestic violence. She thanks her colleagues Rigel Oliveri and Paul Litton and research assistant Ross Valore for their assistance in developing this article. 1. Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 133 S. Ct. 2552 (2013). 53

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