Married same-sex couples in Arkansas who conceived children through artificial insemination but were given birth certificates containing the name of only one parent will soon be able to get amended documents without a court order, a spokesman with the state Department of Health said Wednesday.
The decision comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a pair of Arkansas couples who had challenged the state’s birth certificate statutes, saying they treated gay couples differently than heterosexuals.
In declaring the law unconstitutional, a majority of the justices on the nation’s top court reversed a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The Department of Health said earlier this week that it would await further direction from the state Supreme Court.
But Meg Mirivel, a spokesman for the department, said Wednesday the state would begin issuing amended birth certificates under a section of the state birth certificate law dealing with artificial insemination.
Mirivel said the change in policy came after discussions with the attorney general and governor’s office.
The couples in the lawsuit against the Department of Health had sought broader changes to the birth certificate statutes.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.