![\"jackie](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/jackie-phillips-stackman-indiana.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA lesbian<\/a> couple<\/a> on Monday had a case heard to determine if Indiana\u2019s law preventing them from both being named on their child\u2019s birth certificate is discriminatory.<\/span><\/p>\n Jackie and Lisa Phillips-Stackman\u2019s case was heard by a three-judge panel for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a>. The couple<\/a>\u2019s daughter Lola was born from Jackie\u2019s embryo, fertilized by a sperm donor and carried by Lisa.<\/span><\/p>\n Indiana is appealing an earlier ruling which ordered the state to recognize both parents on the birth certificates of children conceived using a sperm donor. The Phillips-Stackman\u2019s case argued that parental recognition should be a benefit conferred by the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s marriage equality ruling in 2015, reports <\/span>IndyStar<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Not recognizing the non-birth mother, the lawsuit said, could make it more difficult for families to be covered by insurance policies or for the parent to enroll her child in school.<\/span><\/p>\n In that case, U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said that \u201cthere is no conceivable important governmental interest that would justify the different treatment of female<\/a> spouses of artificially-inseminated birth mothers from the male<\/a> spouses of artificially-inseminated birth mothers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n However, on Monday Judge Diane S. Sykes<\/a> argued that the couple<\/a>\u2019s lawyer was making an argument that wouldn\u2019t hold up under scrutiny. \u201cYou can\u2019t overcome biology,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the state defines parenthood by virtue of biology, no argument under the Equal Protection Clause or the substantive due process clause can overcome that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n IndyStar reports<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n Judge Diane S. Sykes drew distinctions between biological parentage and parental rights, and which of the two should be represented on birth certificates. \u201cYou can\u2019t overcome biology,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cIf the state defines parenthood by virtue of biology, no argument under the Equal Protection Clause or the substantive due process clause can overcome that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYour Honor, with all due respect, we maintain that parenthood is no longer defined by biology,\u201d said Karen Celestino-Horseman, the attorney for eight same-sex<\/a> couples<\/a> who brought the lawsuit against the state for only allowing only a mother and a father to be named on birth certificates. \u201cThat\u2019s a policy argument to take to the legislature,\u201d Sykes responded.<\/span><\/p>\n Last year Diana Sykes was on an early Trump shortlist for the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n You can listen to the oral arguments here<\/a> and watch an interview with the couple<\/a> below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The post Judge Says No to Gay Couple\u2019s Parental Rights: \u2018You Can\u2019t Overcome Biology\u2019 \u2013 VIDEO<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a0Trump\u2019s SCOTUS List: Why It\u2019s Bad News for LGBT People<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n