Custody Battle Centers On Travel Rights Of Pregnant Women

A custody dispute between an Olympic skier and his former girlfriend, an ex-marine and former firefighter, has evolved into a legal battle over the rights of pregnant women to travel and make life choices. Alpine skier Bode Miller and Sara McKenna had already split when they learned a baby was on the way. When she was seven months pregnant, McKenna moved from San Diego,where Miller also lived,to New York City to attend Columbia University. A New York judge sided with Miller in a lawsuit claiming McKenna fled to New York to find a more sympathetic court for custody proceedings. But on Nov. 14 a five-panel appeals court in New York said that ruling violated McKenna’s basic rights. “Putative fathers have neither the right nor the ability to restrict a pregnant woman from her constitutionally protected liberty,” the panel wrote in its decision. A New York City Family Court will begin proceedings that could switch custody of the baby back to McKenna.