Tag Archives: Fourteenth Amendment

Why Lesbian Co-Parents Still Live in Limbo

Although the parenting rights of people in same-sex couples have generally been on the rise—particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and the legalization nationwide of marriage by same-sex couples.  But a recent opinion from the Idaho Supreme Court, Doe v. Doe, is a reminder that the rights of lesbian co-parents remain in uncertain, particularly for couples who are not married. This case also illustrates the role the U.S. Constitution plays both in protecting parental rights and allocating them.

In the Idaho case, two women, known only as “Jane Doe” and “Jane Doe I” were in a non-marital, romantic relationship for four years before agreeing to start a family using an anonymous donor. Jane Doe I conceived and gave birth to a child, raised jointly with Jane Doe.  The court quickly relabels Jane Doe I as “Mother” and Jane Doe as “Partner,” presaging its legal conclusion that only one of these women—Mother—has rights to the child they jointly planned for and raised. According to the court, without the consent of “Mother,” “Partner” has no right to maintain a relationship with the child.

 

Resources
From Verdict
The Ghost of Anthony Comstock and the Abortion Wars In June 2022, the Supreme Court eliminated constitutional protection for abortion—forty-nine years after it had first announced that protection in Roe...
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: A Long-Awaited Victory for Pregnant Workers I wrote about a bill called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in 2012, when it was introduced in Congress for the first time. Ten years later, ...
The End of a Bad Era: Congress Repeals the Defense of Marriage Act More than a quarter century after passing it, Congress has repealed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This law was passed in haste in 2003 as anti-s...
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Tweets
03/30/2023
From the Blog
Raising Arizona Babies Arizona Supreme Court in McLaughlin v. Jones was asked an increasingly familiar question: Does the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges ...
Why Lesbian Co-Parents Still Live in Limbo Although the parenting rights of people in same-sex couples have generally been on the rise—particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2015 rulin...
So Many Unanswered Questions about ART Assisted reproductive technology (ART) surrounds us. Courts are certainly not strangers to the parentage questions that can arise out from situations ...
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