co-maternity

noun

The state of being a co-mother; a mother to a child carried by another partner through reciprocal IVF (in vitro fertilization where one female partner supplies the ovum and the other carries the pregnancy).

Meanings

nounco-maternity (countable and uncountable, plural co-maternities)

plural co-maternities

  1. countableuncountableThe state of being a co-mother; a mother to a child carried by another partner through reciprocal IVF (in vitro fertilization where one female partner supplies the ovum and the other carries the pregnancy).

    Farskap eller medmorskap fastsatt i utlandet kan bli anerkjent i Norge.

    2024 June 11, “Apply for recognition on paternity or co-maternity established abroad”, in nav.no, Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, archived from the original on 11 Oct 2024
    4 more examples

    Developments in jurisprudence and legislation thus suggest a growing openness to identifying a birth mother and her same-sex partner as a child’s ‘natural’ or ‘original’ parents whether that child has been conceived through assisted reproduction. But the idea of co-maternity still seems limited and tenuous.

    2007 January 13, Angela Campbell, “Conceiving Parents Through Law”, in International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, volume 21, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, page 256

    Utvalget har vurdert hvilke regler som bør gjelde ved fastsettelse av farskap, morskap og medmorskap for barn som er født som et resultat av assistert befruktning i utlandet.

    2009, Aslak Syse, Trude Haugli, Øivind Johansen, Anne Margrethe Lund, Margurethe Stenersen, Arne Sunde, Gitte Gulbrandsen, Geir Helgeland, Farskap og annen morskap: Fastsettelse og endring av foreldreskap (Norges offentlige utredninger) (overall work in Norwegian Bokmål and English), via National Library of Norway, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 17

    The legal issues for those pursuing co-maternity or egg-sharing are no less complex. Recent cases have shown the need for competent legal representation from the very earliest stages of the family-formation process.

    2016, Elizabeth F. Schwartz, “LGBT Issues in Surrogacy: Present and Future Challenges”, in E. Scott Sills, editor, Handbook of Gestational Surrogacy: International Clinical Practice and Policy Issues, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 60

    In the case of a woman who gives birth while married to a trans woman, the co-maternity arrangement adopted by Norway and a few other countries for the case of same sex couples seem to work well enough.

    2021, Isabel C. Jaramillo, “The Stakes in Sex: Obstacles and Oppurtunities in Legal Reform for Trans Persons”, in Isabel C. Jaramill, Laura Carlson, editors, Trans Rights and Wrongs: A Comparative Study of Legal Reform Concerning Trans Persons, Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 21

Origin

Translations

Norwegian Bokmål medmorskap
  • medmorskapstate of being a co-mother
Cite this entry
APA

co-maternity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/co-maternity

MLA

“co-maternity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/co-maternity. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “co-maternity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/co-maternity.

Source: co-maternity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.