Researchers at the University of Cambridge have made an advance that could someday lead to same-sex couples being able to use both parents’ DNA to create their children. Cool—but let’s make sure not to use this as a reason to prioritize biological parents over nonbiological ones.
PinkNews reported on the scientific advance, but also opined:
If further steps are made so same-sex couples can use their DNA to produce the sperm or egg, it could make the law less discriminatory.
For example, a Mississippi judge ruled last month that a same-sex divorcee did not have legal rights to the child she helped to raise because she wasn’t the biological mother.
This could all change with improved technology.
They’re not wrong that the situation would change—but they’re also headed down a dangerous path. The Mississippi case in question is Strickland v. Day, which I wrote about at more length here; in brief, when Chris Strickland and Kimberly Day divorced, the court ruled that Chris was not a parent to either of the two children they had planned for and were raising together—one who was adopted solely by Day (because state law forbid same-sex couples from jointly adopting at the time) and one whom Day gave birth to, with help from an anonymous sperm donor. Most shockingly, it said Strickland was not a parent to their second child because their anonymous sperm donor constituted “an absent father” and even though he “may never be known, and probably won’t be … he is still a father.” The court nonetheless ordered Chris to pay child support and awarded her visitation.
If a couple used biological material from both prospective parents, they could avoid situations like that of Strickland and Day, but the law would remain just as discriminatory to couples who, for whatever reason, were unable to or chose not to use one parent’s DNA. (Maybe one parent has a history of disease they want to avoid, for example, or maybe they don’t have money for what might be an expensive procedure.)
Just as we must continue to seek equality for same-sex parents who choose not to marry, even though they could (putting their parental rights on par with different-sex unmarried parents), we must make sure the law treats all parents alike, biological or otherwise.