​On 22 February, Parliament passed a bill based on a citizens’ initiative concerning a new Maternity Act. The vote was 122 in favour and 42 against. The Maternity Act ensures that both women in a same-sex couple are legally recognised as mothers from the moment of a child’s birth.

Under the new law, if a female same-sex couple has a child through fertility treatment, both women can be legally recognised as the child’s parents already before the child is born. According to the existing legislation, the partner that did not give birth to the couple’s child was required to adopt the child in order to receive legal status as a parent.

The Maternity Act has no impact on how paternity is recognised. Furthermore, it does not enable a child to have more than two legal parents.