A couple of men and a woman had a child in May of this year, and for the first time in the countrythe newborn was allowed to be registered in the Civil Registry of the Argentine Republic with a triple affiliation —that is, with his two parents and his mother— since his arrival in the world.
It’s about a unprecedented case by the novel sentence, given that the judge Myriam Cataldiat the head of the National Civil Court No. 7 of the capital, recognized the “right to non-discrimination on the grounds of triple filiation or filiatory registration polyamory“for the baby.
To achieve this, the magistrate gave rise to the request of the two fathers and the mother and declared unconstitutional the last paragraph of article 558 of the new Civil and Commercial Codewhich entered into force in 2015, which states that “no person can have more than two affiliate links, whatever the nature of the affiliation.”
It justified its decision by determining that this paragraph violated the rights of the National Constitution and international human rights treaties. Those who opposed this family’s request were the prosecutor Mónica Susana Mauri and the Ombudsman for Minors Marcelo Gustavo Jalil.
Judge Cataldi: “Paternity and maternity should not be just objective and static concepts”
Cataldi argued that he ruled in favor of the “right to form a family in diverse and plural terms”. In addition, he added that the Court pointed out in the American Convention that “a closed concept of family is not determined” and that “much less only a particular model of it is protected.”
“Reality shows daily that not in every family there is a mother or a father figure, without this preventing it from providing the necessary well-being for the development of boys and girls. Fatherhood and motherhood should not be just objective and static conceptswhere the affective component is legally irrelevant,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the ruling highlights that the baby “was procreated in the laboratory by uniting the gamete of one of the men and that of the woman.” This result was the product of the desire of a couple of two men, who have lived together since 2018 and wanted to have a child, without resorting to adoption or surrogacy. For this reason, they chose a “coparenting model” with a woman who also had the same desire to start a family.
A historical failure
In dialogue with GO Newsthe lawyer of the two parents, the mother and the newborn, Andres Gil Dominguez, explained that based on his experience with other requests for triple parentage, “it was totally possible” that the case be concluded favorably.
In addition, he indicated that although there had previously been “19 cases in Argentina” of triple affiliation, one of the novelties of this case is that it is the first in which the project starts from “a joint family and creational bond” from birth.
“There were many conversations about parenting, how the family works and issues that were important to each of us. These intimate conversations favored the formation of a solid family network, since they shared the same values, parenting styles and, fundamentally, life plan. In one of the meetings they decided to form the family that the three wanted. They agreed on a family with a mom and two dads. A family project where the son or daughter would grow up in two different homes, with a lot of love from family and friends and support friends for the new member, “explains the new ruling.
The “novel, original and disruptive” case
Four years ago, the male couple set out to find a candidate who wanted to start a family with them, since they wanted to have a child, but without resorting to adoption or surrogacy. In this way they found a specialized website that allowed them to meet the future mother of their child.
Although the coronavirus pandemic crossed their plans, through video calls and virtual exchanges they managed to maintain a bond with the woman and a strong bond of trust and respect was generated between them. And the initiative bore fruit: with the end of the sanitary restrictions and after a series of face-to-face meetings, they carried out the pregnancy procedure, and during the gestation process, they took the case to the judge Myriam Cataldi as “a novel, original and disruptive idea”.
a background
In April 2015, a newborn baby in the province of Buenos Aires had become the first in Argentina and Latin America to be registered in his birth certificate with the recognition of “triple filiation”, that is, with the surname of his father and his two mothers.
However, in that case, after his birth, the baby had been registered in the Civil Registry only “with the two surnames of his mothers,” according to the then provincial chief of staff, Alberto Pérez.
“But when this family approached us with the request, we understood as they did that Antonio —the boy— You have the right to have your family reality respected and to be recognized as the son of his two mothers and his father, without either of them having to resign their rights and obligations,” he affirmed.
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