A baby born in Vancouver, British Columbia, is the first to have three legal parents on her birth certificate under the province’s new law.
The girl was born to a lesbian couple and their male friend and sperm donor, reports CBC News. Under the new law, which passed in 2011 and came into effect last year, donors may be listed as parents as long as the parents agree in writing before conception. The family’s lawyer, barbara findlay (who doesn’t capitalize her name), told CBC News, “In the old days, we looked at biology and genetic connections. And that’s no longer true. We now look at the intention of the parties who are contributing to the creation of the child, and intend to raise the child.”
That’s an important point. As we open up the possibility of allowing for more than two parents (California passed a similar law last October), we must make sure we only do so when all of the parents agree beforehand. Otherwise, we end up in situations with a donor who wants parental rights that a couple does not want to give, or a couple that wants financial or time commitments that a donor does not want to make.
In a flipped version of the B.C. news comes word that four same-sex couples in Ohio have filed a federal suit to put both parents names on their respective children’s birth certificates. All of the couples were married in other states.
Of course, allowing both parents to go on their children’s birth certificates doesn’t obviate the need for a second-parent adoption, alas (and a New York court’s recent decision to prevent them from getting the latter because they can get the former is boneheaded). But birth certificates provide immediate, in-state protection for a child, and should be issued to all who collectively agree they want to have legal parental responsibilities for a child.
Congratulations to Vancouver’s new family!
