If you are planning to use a sperm donor, it’s good to know the laws in your state. Here’s an awesome article organized by the Movement Advancement Project and found on the Family Equality resources page that can help answer some of your questions on parental rights.

 

Assisted Reproduction Laws by State

This map shows the states in which a non-gestational and non-genetic parent can be considered a parent by the state. For example, when a woman consents to have a child with her wife through donor insemination, the non-gestational mother is a legal parent (just as a woman’s husband would be a legal parent of a child they have using donor insemination, even though he is not the biological father). In some states, being married is not a requirement for parental recognition for a non-gestational and non-genetic parent. The process of “consenting to insemination” allows parents in some states a way to establish a legal relationship to the child irrespective of the parents’ marital status. Note that even if assisted reproduction laws do not exist or apply, other laws may protect married or unmarried parents, depending on the state.

 

^* Because of several U.S. Supreme Court cases including Obergefell and Pavan, all states must extend the same rights and benefits to same-sex married couples that are extended to different-sex married couples, including recognizing a non-gestational parent as a legal parent. Therefore, consent to inseminate is not necessary to establish a legal relationship to a child.

This map was developed in collaboration with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). For more information about these topics and active litigation, visit NCLR.

Recommended citation:
Movement Advancement Project. "Equality Maps: Other Parental Recognition Laws." http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/other_parenting_laws (date of access).

 

Percent of Adult LGBTQ Population Covered by These Laws

*Note: These percentages reflect estimates of the LGBT adult population living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Estimates of the LGBT adult population in the five inhabited U.S. territories are not available, and so cannot be reflected here.

 

De Facto Parent Recognition

De facto parenting laws apply when someone is raising a child but is not a legal parent of that child. De Facto parenting laws provide these parents with some limited legal rights to the child, for example, possibly granting visitation, custody or even full parenting rights should the parents' relationship dissolve. Note that other laws may allow parents to establish legal parentage, depending on the state.

A "de facto parent" is someone other than a legal parent who, for reasons other than financial compensation, formed a child-parent relationship in which he or she shared (usually at least equally) in primary childcare responsibilities. This can be any person who acts as a parent in a child’s life and meets certain criteria, including same-sex parents, grandparents, stepparents, aunts, uncles or other loved ones. Analysis by the Movement Advancement Project.