Israeli Court Hears Lesbian In Vitro Case

I have often wondered about this situation myself...

If a lesbian couple decides to have a child, where one woman supplies the egg, the other woman bares the child and the sperm is from an anonymous doner, then do both women become the child's legal parents? In Israel this is exactly what the courts are deciding.

Israeli courts have already ruled that same-sex couples can jointly adopt, however, this is the first time that two women in a committed relationship have been physically involved in the birth of a baby, at least in the Israeli court system.

The women, whose names are protected under Israeli law because a child is involved, went to court after the government refused to register them as co-mothers.

Their lawyer argues that both the women are the baby's biological mothers, and that recognizing both would be for the good of the child.

Attorney Na’ma Tzoref also told the court that the women had received the Health Ministry’s approval for the in vitro process.

But Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz argues that because the sperm came from a third party, the woman who supplied the egg for the baby, now ten months old, must adopt him.

"Before approving the request for artificial insemination, the Health Ministry made it clear that the woman who donated the egg would not [automatically] be considered the child's mother and that if she wanted to be, she would have to adopt him," Manzur said.

Manzur last month said the government would recognize same-sex co-parents through the adoption process. The decision followed a ruling last December by the Supreme Court that the government must recognize foreign adoptions by same-sex parents and treat both parents as equal.

In Manzur's objection in this case he called the in vitro process the women used an end run around the adoption process.

The court has not said when it will issue a ruling.

Gays and lesbians in Israel have been steadily gaining civil rights since the government overturned the law against sodomy in 1988.

There have been no restrictions on gays serving in the military since 1993. In 2000, the age of consent for gays was lowered to 16, to match the legal age for consensual sex for heterosexuals.

Gay couples are given most federal rights in Israel, although gay marriages (which are only religious marriages in Israel) are not permitted.

News found on 365Gay.com