The Supreme Court today ruled that only the birth mother – not the genetic mother – should be on a child’s birth certificate.

The court found in favour of the State’s challenge to a landmark ruling last year, that held that genetics can be used to determine maternity.

The initial action was brought by a genetic mother of twins, whose sister gave birth to the children via surrogacy.

The woman was seeking to be named as the mother on her children’s birth certificate, bringing the challenge against the State over its insistence that only the woman who gives birth to the child can be officially acknowledged as the mother in the document.

Both the genetic mother and the woman who gave birth to the children had given their consent for the former to be stated as the mother on the birth certificate.

In today’s case, the State sought to appeal last year’s landmark ruling by the High Court that held that genetics can be used to determine maternity in the same way as it can paternity.