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Gay couple wins right to amend child's birth record

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by sokk, Sep 11, 2011.

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  1. sokk

    sokk
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    A gay couple from Saskatchewan have the right to remove the surrogate mother from the birth certificate of their child, according to a judge.

    You can read more here
     
    #1 sokk, Sep 11, 2011
  2. Chip

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    I read the article and I'm a bit troubled by this.

    While there's no question that the gay couple are truly the child's parents in terms of raising him or her, clearly there was a female who gave birth and/or donated the egg that became the child.

    What if the child later needs to find out medical/familial history? What if the child is simply curious, as an adult, about the person that gave birth to him?

    While I appreciate the strides being made in terms of recognizing the gay family as a legitimate family unit, I feel like there is reason to keep a record of who actually gave birth to the child. (I would make the same argument in case of a male fathering a child for a lesbian couple.)
     
    #2 Chip, Sep 11, 2011
  3. Enaithor

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    I agree, I think the child should have a birth certificate with 3 parents on it.
     
    #3 Enaithor, Sep 11, 2011
  4. Ben

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    I think it's pretty legit. The surrogate mother didn't donate the egg in the first place, and apparently she lived with the couple while pregnant, so if the child is curious about who carried them, they could probably find out pretty easily.
     
    #4 Ben, Sep 11, 2011
  5. KittyBoy

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    The same thing has happened here in Australia, except that it was a Lesbian couple and they removed the father from the birth certificate... While I am all for recognition of gay/lesbian couples to being a child's parents, but removing the biological mother/father of the child is an injustice. It is unfair to both the biological parent and, moreso, to the child involved psychologically, and it also severe in its nature in the alteration of medical and familial records.
     
    #5 KittyBoy, Sep 11, 2011
  6. Tim

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    I actually... don't agree with this. The surrogate is the girl's mother. The 2 men are the girl's fatherS. The certificate should have just had 2 fathers listed. Yes, they are the parents that will raise her, but if she wants to go searching for her mother, (as all kids who aren't raised by the one that actually gave birth to them eventually want to), then she has no way of tracking her down if the fathers don't want her to know who it is.

    Yes, they are her parents, but the person who gave birth to you is important as well.
     
    #6 Tim, Sep 11, 2011
  7. sokk

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    But you guys have to remember that the surrogate mother is not the biological mother of the child, she just gave birth to the baby. An egg from an anonymous donor was inserted in her, with the sperm from the gay couple. The egg from the anonymous donor is the biological mother, not the surrogate woman, she just gave birth to the baby.

    I support this. The gay couple is the child's real parents. They will raise the child. The child doesn't need more parents. They will do a good job, I'm sure.
     
    #7 sokk, Sep 11, 2011
  8. IsItSo

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    I'm opposed to closed adoptions, so yeah, this isn't good news in my book.
     
    #8 IsItSo, Sep 11, 2011
  9. Chandra

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    This.
     
    #9 Chandra, Sep 11, 2011
  10. Revan

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    Plus, having the surrogate mother on the birth certificate almost allows her to come back and say "I want the baby!" and often, courts side with the mother. Personally I think this is the best thing to do no matter how "unfair" it is.
     
    #10 Revan, Sep 11, 2011
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