"Hubig promotes shared maternal leave for females"
In a developing landscape, Germany is making strides towards granting joint motherhood rights to lesbian couples, aiming to provide legal recognition and parental rights for both partners from the moment of birth. However, significant obstacles persist in the implementation of these changes.
Currently, a lesbian couple where one partner is the biological mother can only obtain legal recognition primarily for that individual, while the non-biological mother faces numerous legal hurdles to be recognised as a parent. The concept of joint motherhood, where both partners are recognised as legal parents without the need for adoption procedures, is a subject of ongoing discussions and advocacy.
Medical advancements, such as reciprocal IVF (shared motherhood), where one partner donates eggs and the other carries the pregnancy, are becoming increasingly popular. Yet, the legal recognition of both partners as mothers immediately after birth without additional adoption procedures remains unstandardized in Germany.
The main obstacles to full implementation include outdated family law, procedural burdens on non-biological mothers, and ongoing cultural debates. German family law has been slow to adapt to the needs of queer families, and European family law and national frameworks have gaps and inconsistencies in recognising and protecting these families. Moreover, there remains political and societal resistance rooted in differing views on family structures and "gender ideology."
Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig is advocating for reforms to family law regarding co-motherhood. She has criticised the current judicial adoption procedure as arduous and burdensome for families, and has expressed a desire for sensible changes to address these issues. In addition, Minister Hubig has stated that the idea of the "responsibility community," a concept proposed by former Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, is unnecessary and that the focus should remain on legal reforms for co-motherhood.
Despite these efforts, the plans for enabling joint motherhood have not yet been fully implemented. The collapse of the traffic light coalition may have contributed to this, as concrete plans for co-motherhood were in place in the Federal Ministry of Justice in the fall of 2024 but were not implemented after the coalition's dissolution.
It is worth noting that the non-biological mother in a lesbian couple must currently go through adoption processes to become a legal parent, which can create legal uncertainty and be time-consuming. In some tragic cases, if the mother dies during or shortly after birth, the child might not have any legal parents. Minister Hubig has expressed a desire to address this issue, considering a change to be sensible.
In summary, while Germany is moving towards enabling joint motherhood legally, there is still a lack of full legislative implementation. The main obstacles are the legacy of traditional family law, procedural burdens on non-biological mothers, and ongoing cultural debates. Medical options like reciprocal IVF are advanced, but legal frameworks need to catch up to enable seamless joint parenthood for lesbian couples. This evolving landscape reflects a broader European challenge of reconciling queer family recognition with entrenched legal and cultural frameworks.
- The idea of joint motherhood, where both partners in a lesbian couple are legal parents, is being advocated for in Germany's politics and policy-and-legislation to provide equal parental rights.
- In health-and-wellness and science, reciprocal IVF (shared motherhood) is an advancing medical technique, but legal recognition of both partners as mothers remains unstandardized in Germany.
- The non-biological mother in a lesbian couple faces numerous legal hurdles, including adoption procedures, creating legal uncertainty and being time-consuming, which can lead to tragic situations like a child being left without any legal parents.
- The Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig has expressed a desire for reforms in family-health and women's-health, emphasizing the need for sensible changes to address the issues faced by non-biological mothers in joint motherhood cases.
