BOSTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A lesbian couple can list both their names on a birth certificate under the category ``mother'' if the women are connected to the child by birth or biology, a Massachusetts court ruled.

      ``This is a decision that was made in the best interest of the child. It gives the child the protection of having both women as parents with all the rights and responsibilities,'' the women's lawyer, Joyce Kauffman, said on Thursday, after news of the June 26 ruling emerged.

      Those rights include ``all the things married people take for granted'' such as health insurance, child support, tax deductions, custody and inheritance, explained Kauffman who represented Mary Jane Knoll and Christine Finn in the court action.

      The pair conceived their baby boy through in vitro fertilization using Knoll's eggs and semen from an anonymous donor. Finn then carried the embryo to term and delivered the baby at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston.    Both women requested that the ``father'' category be removed and replaced with a second ``mother'' category.

      ``We didn't object, but we have to fill out forms and there was no place on the form for a second ``mother'' category,'' said the hospital's lawyer, Leslie Joseph. ``We took a neutral position on the matter feeling it was between the family and the court.''

      Probate Judge Nancy Gould ruled on June 26, five days after the baby boy's birth, granting the couple's motion to have a second mother listed after finding both were connected ``to the child by biology and through birth.''

   The judge ordered the hospital to amend the forms by replacing the ``father'' category with a second ``mother'' section after noting that the pair had always intended to be the child's parents. The hospital did.    The couple is now awaiting an official birth certificate, Kauffman said.

Copyright 2000, Reuters News Service