The Cabinet has approved a bill to enable same-sex female couples to register as parents of a baby conceived with the help of a sperm donor. In addition, any couple will also be allowed to replace the word ‘mother’ and father’ on birth certs with ‘parent’.
A memo explaining the new legislation says: “Section 10 provides for the inclusion of details of ‘Parent’ in the required particulars to register a birth or stillbirth. This will facilitate both partners in a same-sex female relationship to have their particulars registered in the register of births. Registration of particulars of “Mother” and “Father” will continue to be available. However, any parent may choose to register a birth as ‘Parent’, if they so wish.”
Under current laws, birth certs only allow for the birth mother to be recorded, but under the changes both women in a same-sex relationship will be able to be recorded as parents. The Bill will also work retroactively to allow people re-register past births.
This change in the law was meant to be effected by the Children and Family Relationships Act of 2015, but a drafting error in one section prevented that part of the legislation from becoming law.
This bill will not extend the same rights to men in same-sex relationships who have children as that crosses over with separate surrogacy laws, the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2017, being prepared by the Department of Health.
According to a press release from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, currently, “particulars of only one parent, the mother, can be included on the birth certificate. Under these new provisions both parents can be recorded as ‘parent’ on the birth certificate.”
It adds that this “will equally apply to non-same sex parents should they so choose.”
The Bill also includes a provision to enable a mother to more easily rebut presumption of paternity of her estranged husband in registering a birth.
