SANTA ANA — In a decision that could bolster the rights of surrogate mothers in California, an Orange County judge ruled Thursday that a surrogate mother is the legal parent of the baby girl she bore for a couple who are now divorcing.

Surrogate mother Elvira Jordan, who has seen her 10-month-old daughter only four times since the child went home from the hospital with Robert and Cynthia Moschetta, will be permitted to visit the baby three days a week until the judge decides on permanent custody arrangements.

Jordan said she would seek primary custody of her daughter, who is now living with Robert Moschetta in Lakewood. But Jordan said she would allow visitation by Cynthia Moschetta, who raised the baby for the first six months of life and now has no legal rights to the child.

"I'm overwhelmed, I'm happy," said Jordan, a 42-year-old mother of three other children. "I want her to be all of the time with me--full custody."

Two legal scholars said Thursday's decision would not clear up the murky legal status of surrogate motherhood in California.

At the moment, the state does not have a single law or appellate court decision to indicate whether surrogacy contracts are enforceable, and if so, under what conditions.

However, the scholars said the ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, who found that Jordan had not abandoned her child by leaving her in the Moschettas' custody for nine months, could help other surrogates who decide to keep their babies.

"The surrogate managed to win," said Harvard Law School Prof. Martha A. Field. "In a lot of cases, the couple who arranged for the adoption is so much better equipped to handle the litigation that even in cases where the surrogates ought to win, they don't."

The Moschetta case began April 8 as a three-way custody battle between the baby's biological father, his estranged wife and Jordan, whom they hired for $10,000.

Jordan said she saw a television program on surrogacy, felt sorry for infertile couples, and wanted to give a child to a happy family.

Even before she met the Moschettas, she testified, she had been approached about bearing a child for a single man, and refused. She said she felt it was important that her child be raised in a two-parent home.