Same-Sex Couples Win Birth Certificate Suit

INDIANAPOLIS -- A federal judge Thursday ordered the state to include the names of both mothers on the birth certificate of a child born to a lesbian couple. 

Indiana birth certificates list only the mother and the father. Eight lesbian couples sued, seeking the right to include both mothers: the birth mother and her partner. They argue that the state’s current system sometimes denies them the right to give the child both last names and denies parents – and the children – certain rights and access to benefits. The state had argued same-sex partners should go through the adoption process.

But the couples noted that was both lengthy and expensive…and federal judge Tanya Walton Pratt agrees. Pratt says denying both same-sex spouses the right to be on a birth certificate leaves the child in what she calls the “vulnerable position” of having only one legal parent.

In a statement, the Attorney General’s office says it hasn’t decided whether to appeal.