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But Mother's Day Will Be Expensive

Two Massachusetts women won the right for both to be listed as mothers on an original birth certificate, rather than the traditional mother and father. Until now, two parents of the same sex could be listed as 'co-parents' only on an amended birth certificate following an adoption, but not on the original one.

Both women have biological ties to the child: one donated the egg as the 'genetic' mother, and the other, her longtime partner, carried the artificially inseminated egg as the 'gestational' mother. No father's rights were terminated, as the couple used an anonymouse donor who had signed an agreement to waive all parental rights.

Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate and Family Court Judge Nancy M. Gould noted a California case in her ruling: 'In California, which has adopted the Uniform Parentage Act, the courts have allowed the entry of a judgment declaring an egg donor and her partner the legal parents of a child, and have allowed the birth record to reflect this.'

The couple's counsel, Cambridge, Massachusetts, attorney Joyce Kauffman, said the case could be challenged by the state Registry of Vital Records and Statistic. It is currently under review. Future cases involving same-sex couples will likely be decided on a case-by-case basis.

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