A second mum, yet unrecognised – where do we stand on the PMA Act?

David and Lisa rely on medically assisted reproduction (PMA) to expand their family. The child is born, and David goes to the registry office in his local authority, which stamps the birth certificate listing both parents. Marie and Simone rely on PMA to expand their family. The child is born, but on their Luxembourg birth certificate, only the name of Marie, who gave birth, appears. Simone will have to wait three months to start adoption proceedings and, several months later, she will finally become a mother in the eyes of the law. "There is discrimination, unequal treatment between heterosexual and same-sex couples who are, in fact, in the same situation, " says Deidre Du Bois, avocate à la Cour and co-founder and partner at the law firm Dupong Krieps Du Bois Videira. "I recently met with a couple and the mother told me that it is still deeply upsetting to be merely the registered parent when she conceived the child with her partner. It was truly a project they undertook together, and one of them is currently reduced to nothing at all. She has no rights over this child. If her partner were to die tomorrow, in theory, the child could be taken into care and taken away from her."