Two lesbian couples are challenging Indiana's birth-certificate regulations, saying that the policies are discriminatory and prevent all parents from being listed on their children's birth certificates, according to Courthouse News.
Jackie and Lisa Phillips-Stackman claim that state and county officials have refused to list Jackie on their child's birth certificate. Their child was born via in vitro fertilization, as Jackie's egg was paired with a sperm donor; it was then implanted into Lisa.
The other couple, Noelle and Crystal Allen, were married in New York in 2013, and wanted to add to their family, which already included a 5-year-old daughter, by having another child. Unfortunately, their expected twins were born prematurely, dying that same day. Noelle was allegedly informed that she would not be on the certificate without a court order because she was not the birth mother.
The original article is at http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/12/08/gay-couples-challege-birth-certificate-rules.htm.
Alabama lesbian mother's request granted
On Dec. 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a lesbian mother's request to have the adoption of her former partner's children be enforced while the court decides to hear her appeal of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that nullified the adoption, BuzzFeed noted.
The request, filed on Nov. 16, features a case in which a lesbian couple in Alabama went to Georgia so that one of those women, referred to as V.L. in court filings, could adopt the children of E.L. Years later, when E.L. and V.L's relationship ended, V.L. sued in Alabama to have the adoption request enforced.
Said NCLR Family Law Director Cathy Sakimura in a statement: "I am relieved for V.L. and her children that they can be reunited. For any adoptive parent, it would be unthinkable that their adoption could be invalidated years later and that they could be separated from their children for months while they fought to be recognized. V.L. and her children have already endured what no parent or child should ever have to experience."
The original article is at www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/supreme-court-grants-relief-to-lesbian-mother-in-alabama-cas .