How many parents can a baby have?

Coming soon to a courtroom near you: five or more people all claiming to be the rightful parent of a single child.

In this era of advancing reproductive technologies, one baby may, indeed, result from an egg donor, a sperm donor, a woman who carries the baby during gestation, and the couple who intends to raise the child.

If that's not confusing enough, the biological father may be dead for years by the time the child is actually conceived, a situation made possible by stockpiles of frozen sperm.

The reproductive jumble is shattering traditional definitions of parenthood - and leaving courts all but begging lawmakers to settle the uncertainties surrounding newborns whose parents haven't been legally determined.

"Many more actors have become involved in the drama of reproduction, and courts are increasingly being called in to sort out their rights and responsibilities," says Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Just last week, Massachusetts' highest court held that children conceived using the frozen egg or sperm of a deceased parent could be considered offspring for the purpose of inheritance. The case was brought by Lauren Woodward who, using her husband's frozen sperm, conceived twins 16 months after he had passed on.

The same day the court heard the Woodward case, it considered arguments in another "who's the parent?" case. A couple was asking the court to put their names on the birth certificates of their newborn twins - rather than the name of the woman who gave birth to the babies after the couple's egg and sperm were implanted in her womb.

In both cases, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said it shouldn't be the one making these decisions. "The questions ... cry out for lengthy, careful examination outside the adversary process," Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote.

Conflicts over frozen reproductive materials and the resulting children will only get more complicated as technology advances further, says Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics.

Already, more children are born each year in the US with the help of reproductive technologies than are put up for adoption. And disputes are proliferating as couples who created tens of thousands of frozen embryos decide to divorce - and vie for ownership of the embryos.

As a result, the traditional definition of motherhood - a woman who gives birth to a child - no longer fits all circumstances, lawyers say. The birth mother may be only a carrier for donated sperm or eggs - or, someday soon, even a transplanted ovary.

"Children are being born into a legal limbo that is putting them in legal jeopardy," says Connecticut state Rep. Patrick Flaherty.

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