"I object," Czernek said loudly. "This line of questioning is not germane-"
"On the contrary, Your Honor." Johnson stepped over to face the judge. "Counsel for the plaintiff has raised the question of the defendant's awareness of abortion. I am merely probing the question further." Lyang mulled the problem for a moment. "Overruled," she said. Johnson strolled around the witness stand. "Mrs. Chandler," he said, "were you aware of the identity of the embryo donor?"
"No. Dr. Fletcher insisted that we have no contact with the donor."
"Did you know that the donor was unaware of the use to which her aborted-I'm sorry." He nodded at Dr. Fletcher. "I mean her transopted fetus. That she was unaware of the use to which it would be put?"
"No. She never really discussed the source with us. Just that embryos were available."
"Where did you think the embryo must have come from?"
"An abortion," Karen replied. "I mean, that was pretty obvi-ous, don't you think?" Several spectators laughed in a nervous sort of way and al-most immediately shut up.
"Was it your intent to become pregnant simply to enjoy be-ing pregnant?" Karen shook her head, an inadvertent smile crossing her face. "Pregnancy isn't something you do for fun. David and I wanted to bring a child into the world. To raise it with love."
"Did it make any difference to you that the donor was totally unaware that her child would be transopted?"
"No."
The muttering increased. People nodded to themselves and one another. Karen continued, staring squarely at the jurors. "I had no uncertainties. I knew that I wasn't taking a child from some-one who would miss it. It's not as if the donor had an abortion just to provide me with a fetus. I knew that I was saving a child from absolutely certain death." Looking out at the spectators, she saw and heard dozens of people arguing with one another. Some expressed astonish-ment at her blatant statement; others spread their hands in reluctant agreement with her logic. She glanced down at Valerie.
The plaintiff lowered her head in an attempt to hide her tears. Unsuccessful, she grasped Ron's shoulders and clung to him.
"Please, Val," he said. "I've got to stand up to object." He stood, letting her arms slide down him.
"Objection!" he shouted. "The defendant's personal opinions are of no conse-quence here."
"Sustained," Lyang said. She looked down at the court re-porter. "Strike the last question and answer from the record. And counsels will please approach the bench."
Czernek and Johnson stepped over to the base of Judge Lyang's dark wooden tower. She looked down at both of them and whispered.
"What is going on here? This is a custody lawsuit we're hear-ing, and neither of you has addressed the issue of the best interests of the child." She pointed a dismissive hand at Czernek. "Well, maybe you have, perfunctorily. Neither of you, however, has bothered to raise questions of financial resources, parental fitness, personal habits, or any issues of fact that I would normally hear in this court."
"Your Honor-" Johnson glanced hesitantly at Czernek. "This case is not one of divorced parents deciding on custody. That is why we all agreed to forego the discovery phase. This is a case of two sets of parents, both well-off, who dispute the-I don't know how to put it-the parentship of a child, who dispute its maternity. That is an issue of fact. I am of the opinion that the standard criteria for determining the best interests of the child are superfluous here and that once we determine whether or not transoption is a legitimate medical procedure, the answer to the question of Renata's custody will follow ipso facto." Czernek frowned at his adversary. "I'm afraid I have to agree," he whispered to Lyang. "The entire question of cus-tody hinges on whether or not Dr. Fletcher kidnapped my daughter. If she did so by performing an illegal operation-"
"If the question is one of legality," Lyang said, "I can end this trial right now by taking judicial notice of transoption one way or the other. Transoption is not on trial here."
"The contract is," Johnson said. "Whether Ms. Dalton's con-tract is legally enforceable-"
"Or fraudulently induced," Czernek muttered.
"-determines what claim Dr. Fletcher had to the fetus after its removal. That's the impasse we encountered at the manda-tory settlement-"
"All right," Lyang said in a harsh whisper. "So both of you think we'll be creating big precedents here. Fine. Just remem-ber that the law is what the judge says it is, and don't either of you be so eager for headlines that you abuse these women." She nodded at Johnson. "You may resume."
"I have no further questions, Your Honor," he said to the court at large.
"Does counsel for the plaintiff wish to redirect?"
"No, Your Honor," Czernek said, "I would now like to call on expert testimony. Will Pastor Avery Decker please step for-ward."
The minister hefted himself out of his seat next to his assis-tant, James Rosen, in the first row of the spectator's area. Karen looked at the large man in his fine dark brown business suit, light blue shirt, and silk rep tie. She stepped out of the witness box, passing him as she returned to her seat.
"Is that the man you interviewed?" she asked Johnson.
The lawyer nodded in annoyance. "You're about to hear the self-proclaimed pro-life stance on saving Renata's life." He poised his pen over his legal pad, ready for anything.
"Do you swear," the clerk said, "that the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
Decker pressed his palm lovingly on the Bible. "So help me God," he said with pride, "I do." Czernek strode over to the witness stand. "Please state your name for the record."
"Avery Hamilton Decker."
"What are your qualifications as an expert witness in eth-ics?" Decker eased back in the wooden chair, which creaked un-der the load. Looking at Dr. Fletcher, then at the jury, he said, "I'm a minister in the Universal World Christian Church and president of the Committee for Preborn Rights. I have a Doc-torate of Div-"
Johnson stood quickly to interrupt the recitation of creden-tials. "The defense stipulates that Pastor Decker is qualified."
Czernek smiled. He stepped closer to the witness. "What, Pastor Decker, are the ethical problems with transoption?"
Evelyn looked over to Johnson, waited, then scrawled a hasty note and slid it under him. He read it. No objection?
He wrote at the bottom and handed it back.
Let Decker braid his rope. I want to hang the SOB on cross.
Fletcher read it and smiled. Karen tapped her arm to see. When the younger woman read it, she frowned.
"The problem," Decker said, "simply stated, is that transoption is an unwarranted intrusion into the bodies of two separate women and a threat to the life of the preborn. There can be no justification for such interference with God's plan." He smiled cordially at the spectators, recognizing Jane Burke in their midst. "Or, to those who refuse to acknowledge God, interference with the functioning of nature."
"Isn't it ethically proper," Czernek asked, "to bring more children into the world?"
"Outlawing abortion outright would be a far greater step in that direction," Decker replied. "If even one preborn died as a result of transoption, it's reason enough to forbid the entire procedure. At the very least, it is an unnecessarily risky proce-dure, since the real mother could always have given the child up for adoption after birth. At the worst, transoption is nothing more than kidnapping, child abuse, rape, and murder. It is an offense against God and the dignity of man."
"For the purpose of such an ethical position, where would you say human life begins?" Czernek realized that he was on shaky ground. Anything Decker might accidentally say attack-ing abortion could redound to the detriment of Valerie's char-acter. He had discussed the problem with Decker, who had agreed to stick to lambasting transoption. Ron, though, re-mained alert and ready for anything. Decker smiled. "Life begins at conception. Most people as-sume that because a preborn grows inside the mother, it must be part of the mother. Not true." He settled in, folding hefty arms across a stout belly. He nodded toward Dr. Fletcher and smiled sardonically. "I'm no medical expert, but I believe it has been confirmed that the preborn actually creates a bar-rier against the mother, which is called the placenta, out of its own genetic material. The placenta filters the mother's blood and only permits certain nutrients through into the preborn's own bloodstream. The placenta is Checkpoint Charlie for the fetus."