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Showing Original Post only (View all)NJ court ruling blocking newborn's dad from delivery room is first in nation [View all]
Source: The Star-Ledger
TRENTON A woman preparing to give birth can bar the father of their child from entering the delivery room, a New Jersey judge has ruled in one of the first cases of its kind nationwide.
The ruling settled a legal dispute that was argued the very day the woman gave birth. Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed said all patients and pregnant women especially enjoy strong privacy protections that let them decide who can be at their hospital bedside.
Fathers, on the other hand, have no established legal right to be present at the birth of their children, the judge wrote.
"Any interest a father has before the childs birth is subordinate to the mothers interests," Mohammed wrote. "Even when there is no doubt that a father has shown deep and proper concern and interest in the growth and development of the fetus, the mother is the one who must carry it to term."
Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/mom_can_keep_dad_out_of_the_delivery_room_nj_court_rules.html