Legal Question in Family Law in Mississippi

The father's name can be placed on the birth certificate by an acknowledgment of paternity. Present law in Mississippi would require an adoption in order to substitute the genetic mother for the gestational mother on the birth certificate. However, a New York court recently held that the failure to treat genetic mothers the same as genetic fathers violates the mother's rights to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and of the Mississippi Constitution. So the genetic mother may be able to persuade the Mississippi State or Federal courts to require equal treatment for genetic mothers. Another alternative may be for the gestational mother to give birth in New York or some other State with similar laws (probably none), and the genetic parents can then be placed on the birth certificates initially or by acknowledgment of paternity and maternity. For an instructive case on such matters see 2009-NY-0430.332

IN THE MATTER OF SEBASTIAN, 2009 NY Slip Op 29182 (April 9, 2009).