The United States on Tuesday, May 18 facilitated access to citizenship for children born to surrogate mothers or following in vitro fertilization, a decision expected by the LGBT community, after the opposition of Donald Trump during his presidency.
Under new rules established by the Biden administration, a child born overseas to a married couple including a U.S. national will be granted citizenship at birth, regardless of whether the child is genetically affiliated with the U.S. parent or his or her husband or wife.
To discover
Deconfinement: what will change this Wednesday for the French
Read also: Surrogacy in Ukraine: the business of babies
The State Department previously required in this situation that the child be carried by a U.S. citizen or be genetically affiliated with a national of the country.
These new rules
"take into account the realities of modern families and progress"
in assisted reproduction techniques, said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
The change will affect both heterosexual and homosexual couples, but was particularly requested by LGBT families, who have benefited greatly from assisted reproduction techniques to access biological kinship.
LGBT rights groups had argued against them, along with Democratic parliamentarians, after the Trump-era State Department decision to reject citizenship for children if only one parent was American.
Read also: "Surrogacy is a fundamental violation of women's rights"
The United States itself is a preferred destination for families using surrogate mothers, with wide acceptance of this practice banned in other Western countries including France and Germany.
Joe Biden has been a staunch supporter of LGBT rights and reconsidered a number of Donald Trump's decisions on the subject, including banning transgender people from serving in the military. The Democratic President and his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, have both pledged to make equal rights for LGBT people a priority in US foreign policy.