BOSTON (AP) – The highest court in Massachusetts has ruled that an unmarried gay woman whose former girlfriend gave birth to two children through in vitro fertilization has the same parental rights as their biological mother.
Julie Gallagher gave birth to the children, and her former partner, Karen Partanen, has helped raise them.
After the couple split, Partanen wanted to be declared a full legal parent.
A family court judge dismissed Partanen’s request, finding that she didn’t meet the requirements under state law because she and Gallagher were not married when the children were born, and Partanen is not a biological parent.
The Supreme Judicial Court overturned that ruling Oct. 4, finding that a person may establish themselves as a child’s presumptive parent under state law, even without a biological relationship with the child.
