There’s some confusion, especially for two married women having a child. Does the non-birthing parent have to adopt to make it legal? And how a new law could fix it.
By Rena Sarigianopoulos, Kare 11 — Jan 27, 2022
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Imagine you and your spouse give birth to a beautiful baby, but to make sure you have parental rights, one of you has to adopt. It’s an issue that many women in same-sex marriages face, and they are pushing for a new law to change that.
“It didn’t occur to me at the time, I’m on the birth certificate, I can prove that I’m her guardian, and that I was there from birth and that we planned this baby,” said Amanda Chancellor.
Amanda and Bailey Chancellor got married eight years ago. They planned to have a family, and through a sperm donor, were able to have Nash, who is now 3 years old. Since Baily gave birth, she’s automatically a legal parent but Amanda, well it’s complicated.
“The way our current statute reads is hurtful and it is wrong,” said State Senator Karla Bingham.
Bingham is trying to pass Logan’s Law 2.0, a law that would change Minnesota’s artificial insemination statute to remove gendered words like “husband” and “father.” It gives couple’s like the Chancellor’s pause, questioning if Amanda’s parental status could be challenged, say if something were to happen to Bailey or in an emergency.
“Our daycare, schools in our district, the doctor, they all recognize me as a parent and a guardian, but it’s not legally there. And if something were to happen to her, Nash would probably go to her parents right away and not me,” said Amanda.
So they started the adoption process, which is costly, invasive and time consuming. Amanda had to be finger-printed and have a background check to adopt her own child. This situation, by the way, is specific to two women, as two men always need to adopt, since they don’t give birth. But here’s where it gets tricky.
“Legally speaking, the exact reading of the current statutes, I think take care of this problem,” said Mary Pat Byrn with Viitala Law Office.
While Byrn does help couples secure adoption, she does believe Minnesota law is on same-sex couple’s side.
“After same-sex marriage was passed in Minnesota, the legislature also passed a statute that said that statutes dealing with marriage or parentage need to be read in a gender-neutral manner. Therefore, the marital presumption now applies to married couples whether they be opposite-sex couples or same-sex couples,” Byrn said.
Byrn recognizes, though, that the law is state specific…so say you move? And there’s another layer to it.
“It’s really a ‘belts and suspenders’ approach. Opposite-sex couples feel safe relying just on the statute, they have a belt and they’re good with that. Sometimes same-sex couples feel like they want an extra layer of protection, and that adoption gives them those suspenders to support that belt,” Byrn explained.
But even Congresswoman Angie Craig, who adopted her own four boys, is concerned that the way the law is currently written that same-sex couples are not given the same protection. But more so, the children.
“Our four boys deserved the full force of the law for us to be a family, and that includes inheritance rights, and other things, that unless there are legal parents really impact the children as well,” said Craig.
Representative Craig says she is working in Congress to make changes nationally, but recognizes this will probably move faster at the state level.
Passing Logan’s Law 2.0 would take any questions out of the equation.
“There’s so many different ways now that families are bringing children into this world, and we just want to make sure that we’re getting as many in this law change as possible, so that they have the protections that all children deserve,” said Bingham.
She plans to introduce Logan’s Law 2.0 sometime during the upcoming legislative session which starts on January 31st. The first Logan’s Law was introduced in 2019 but never even got a hearing in the Senate.