Lesbian parents in DC now have more rightsA law which gives lesbian parents in DC more rights has come into effect.
The legislation, which was enacted on Saturday, gives lesbians the right to become the legal parent of a partner’s artificially-inseminated child without having to adopt.
It means that partners will be legally recognised as a parent on the birth certificate, although both must give their consent at the time of insemination.
Previously the non-birthing partner in the couple would have to go through a complicated adoption process in order to obtain legal rights to the child.
The new law will now mean that the “name of a consenting spouse or unmarried partner will appear on the child’s birth certificate” making them a legal parent.
Nancy Polikoff, a law professor at the American University who helped to draft the bill, said: “A mother should not have to adopt her own child.”
“When a heterosexual married couple uses artificial insemination to have a child, the husband does not have to adopt the child born to his wife,” continued Polikoff. “Now the child of a lesbian couple will have the same economic and emotional security accorded the children of heterosexual married couples who use artificial insemination”.
A separate provision establishes that when a woman in a registered domestic partnership has a child, her partner is the presumed parent of the child and the partner’s name will appear on the child’s birth certificate.
