It is clear that the mother, the one who conceived the twins and gave birth to them, has that nationality. But he has come across the surprise that his daughters may not have the same. The mother is an American based in Israel who stayed pregnant in a fertility clinic thanks to sperm and ovules donated anonymously.
When she applied for US citizenship for her babies, the petition was rejected because the mother had to prove that the eggs or sperm used for fertilization came from United States citizens, a very difficult fact due to confidentiality agreements in some hospitals.
The case, despite being so specific, puts on the table a reality that will be increasingly frequent and to which sooner or later the laws will have to adapt, because we see how technological advances are not always accompanied by legal adaptations.
Y, How is the law in this regard in the United States? The Office of Consular Affairs of the Department of State has a section that explains the laws that govern nationality requests for citizens who are thinking of using assisted reproduction techniques.
He explains that the transmission of U.S. citizenship by birth is governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act that obliges parents to have a biological connection with your child to ask for citizenship.
In other words, the American citizen must be the sperm or egg donor to transmit citizenship to a child conceived through assisted reproduction technologies. Luckily, in the case of adoptions the same criteria will not be followed, because in that way no adopted child could have the nationality of his parents ...
The truth is that in this case the mother must feel overwhelmed, as if she was told "they are not really your daughters", although he gestured them in his belly and gave birth to them. If the laws are not adapted to the new situations that are occurring more and more normally, they must be renewed and adapted (also to precisely give them a normal surplus).
The case of this woman and her babies exemplifies two social and cultural phenomena
- Traditional concepts of family and fatherhood no longer only include the trident of father, mother and son. Now single parent or homoparental families are much more common.
- To achieve their mission, couples (and solo people) of all profiles are taking advantage of technological advances such as in vitro fertilization, the donation of genetic material or surrogacy (the controversial belly of rent). And they do, although for this they must leave their own country to achieve it.
Hopefully soon the case of the babies who are denied citizenship because the nationality of the genetic material used to conceive them is unknown. A case where such surreal possibilities would fit as if one of the twins were considered American and the other was not, according to the laws now.
