What Makes A Father?

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt reconsiders the parental status of sperm donors as California’s legislature debates giving them legal recognition:

Men have often been viewed as reluctant and unwilling parents under the law; what happens if a new generation steps up and demands more involvement in the lives of their offspring—regardless of the method of conception? And what counts as sufficient commitment to win not just the moral right to be called dad, but the legal status to back it up? …

I’ve come to believe fatherhood is defined by the emotional connection, physical affection, advisements and daily consistency of a man in a child’s life whom he calls Daddy. I don’t believe this relationship has to be biological, and if it is biological then I don’t believe that a donor, even if he has a connection with the child, should automatically be able to claim parental rights. There needs to be strong evidence of deep commitment. That’s hard to define in bright line bill language and is probably best left to a factual case-by-case examination.