The Atlantic
The IVF Cases That Broke Birthright Citizenship
The U.S. had to rethink its definition of parenthood, to account for children born abroad to American parents using egg and sperm donors or surrogates.
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Ethan and Aiden Dvash-Banks are twin brothers born just four minutes apart on the same September day in the same hospital room in Ontario, Canada. But shortly after their birth in 2016, the U.S. State Department decided that the two boys were very different in the eyes of American law: Aiden was a U.S. citizen but Ethan, the brother with whom he’d shared a womb, was not.
State Department restores citizenship rights to children born abroad to married same-sex couples
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Elad Dvash-Banks, left, and his partner, Andrew, pose for photos with their twin sons, Ethan and Aiden in their apartment in 2018 in Los Angeles.Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
The Biden administration restored citizenship rights Tuesday to children born abroad to married same-sex couples from the United States.
Under the policy announced by the State Department, the child will be recognized as a U.S. citizen if the parents are married at the time of birth, at least one is a U.S. citizen, and at least one parent has a genetic relationship to the child, through pregnancy or fatherhood.