LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas woman spent years fighting to be recognized as the mother of a child she raised from birth, and a Nevada Court of Appeals ruling is now changing the legal landscape for families formed through surrogacy.
Mary Lorenzo's path to motherhood didn't begin with biology. It began with a decision to build a family.
Lorenzo and her former partner chose surrogacy after she could no longer become pregnant. They selected a surrogate together, went through the heartbreak of losing their first pregnancy and eventually welcomed a son, Alexander.
Lorenzo was there for the moments that made him her son in every way she understood motherhood. She fed him, bathed him, put him to sleep and watched him grow. Some of her favorite memories were the simplest ones — like watching garbage trucks roll down their street with the little boy who loved them.
"It sounds so dumb, but little boys love garbage trucks," Lorenzo said. "They even let him on the truck one day. He got to beep the horn. It was a freaking big deal."
After her relationship with Alexander's biological father ended, Lorenzo said she was cut off from Alexander entirely. She went from being the parent caring for him every day to being told she had no legal right to seek custody because she wasn't genetically related to him, hadn't given birth to him and wasn't married to his biological father.
"You drop him off at the school and you come back and they go, 'Nope, you're not his mother. You're not going to see him anymore,'" Lorenzo said.
A lower court initially ruled against Lorenzo. She appealed, with Las Vegas family law attorney Amber Candelaria taking the case pro bono.
Candelaria argued the law needed to recognize the reality of families formed through assisted reproduction and the relationship between a parent and child beyond genetics alone. The Nevada Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the lower-court ruling.
"Going forward now, all families are going to have these options available to them. Other families won't have to go through what Mary went through and lose a child," Candelaria said.
The court also designated its decision for publication. Under Nevada law, that means the ruling can establish precedent, potentially guiding courts handling similar parentage disputes in the future.
"The court has set out a path and given instructions for another judge on how to do things," Candelaria said.
For Lorenzo, the fight is not simply about changing the law. It's about an 8-year-old boy she hasn't seen in years.
"It was the scariest day. Because I've had so much hope and been disappointed. You almost don't want to go back down that road because you're so scared," Lorenzo said. "You don't know if you can go through it again. It's so painful. He's alive and doing great and thriving somewhere, but I'm the only person that can't be with them. Do you know what that feels like? I don't think anybody can even understand what that feels like."
"I would pay anything just to have a hug, just one hug," she said.
The appellate ruling does not immediately return Alexander to Lorenzo's care. The case now goes back to the lower court, where the next steps will be decided under the legal framework laid out by the appeals court.
After years of waiting, the law has changed. Now Lorenzo is waiting to see whether that change will finally bring her back together with the boy she has always called her son.
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