Gov. Branstad's Administration Appeals Same Sex Birth Certificate Ruling

Iowa's same sex marriage decision continues to have interesting consequences.

Gov. Terry Branstad's administration said today it is appealing by a Polk County judge that allowed two mothers to be listed on their two-year-old daughter's birth certificate after they used an anonymous donor to conceive.

William Petroski of the Des Moines Register reports the state's Department of Public Health filed the appeal to seek more clarity in the legal definitions.

The Iowa Department of Public Health has filed the appeal because it specifically addresses a situation in which a child is born to married lesbian mothers who conceive through the use of an anonymous sperm donor, but does not address the birth of children to married gays and lesbians who conceive in alternate ways, said Health Department spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm.

Legislation introduced this session to attempt to clarify this language to allow for same sex couples to automatically be put on their child's birth certificate is unlikely to pass.