该机构周二表示，国务院现在将通过体外受精、代孕和其他辅助生殖技术，向美国同性和异性夫妇在海外出生的孩子授予美国公民身份，并通知所有美国海外职位和国会这一历史性变化。

这项新政策是在该机构最近面临几起诉讼带来的同性夫妇起诉因为他们的孩子失去了公民身份-去年失去了两起联邦案件。

特朗普政府一直在对抗这些损失，包括去年8月提出上诉，并为美国长期以来的政策辩护，该政策认为代孕母亲在国外出生的孩子是“非婚生”的，即使夫妇已经结婚。

尽管国务院在10月份撤销了对两起案件的上诉，但该机构继续实施拒绝公民身份的政策，引发了新的诉讼。

但截至周二，所有美国外交机构都被告知，如果父母合法结婚，并且孩子与父母一方有遗传或妊娠关系，除了其他现有要求，如父母在美国居住至少五年，则可以授予这些孩子公民身份。

这一政策变化也具有追溯力，允许以前被拒绝给予子女公民身份的夫妇重新申请，现在将公民身份传给他们的子女。

一位国务院官员表示，这“将允许越来越多的使用辅助生殖技术的已婚夫妇将公民身份传递给他们的孩子——我们对此感到兴奋”，称之为“对现代家庭现实的承认”。

尽管近年来备受关注的案件集中在子女被特朗普政府剥夺公民身份的同性夫妇身上，但该政策将适用于同性和异性夫妇。

“没有人能否认男女同性恋、双性恋、变性者和双性人群体将从中受益，但无论以何种方式、形式或形式，这都不是唯一的，”这位国务院官员表示，他在背景下发言，预演了政策变化。

尽管如此，去年诉讼的律师和原告对这一消息表示欢迎，用拉姆达律师事务所高级律师奥马尔·冈萨雷斯-帕甘的话来说，这是“早该发生的事情”。拉姆达律师事务所是一家非营利性法律机构，曾帮助代理过两对夫妇。

冈萨雷斯-帕甘告诉美国广播公司新闻，“这一政策不仅是非法的，正如法院在多个案件中所承认的那样，而且确实对多个家庭造成了伤害和痛苦——对他们孩子的地位、他们在美国的能力以及他们获得公民身份的全部利益和责任的能力的压力和恐惧。”

这位国务院官员表示，政策变化不会伴随其他变化，也不会适用于未婚夫妇，但追溯政策适用于1952年，当时通过了《移民和国籍法》(INA)。

批评者谴责以前的政策过时，尤其是因为它是基于1950年的法律，在体外受精前几年和合法同性婚姻前几十年制定的。该政策本身最早是在20世纪90年代制定的，目的是为了遵守《移民和国籍法》，但在异性夫妇提起的个案中，以及最近几年合法结婚的同性夫妇提起的个案中，该政策一再被否决。

阿纳多卢机构/盖蒂图像，文件

华盛顿的美国国务院大楼。

这引发了人们的疑问，即为什么特朗普政府几十年后在法庭上如此积极地捍卫它，去年8月提出上诉，拒绝授予凯塞姆·基维蒂公民身份。

凯塞姆于2019年2月在加拿大通过代孕方式出生于马里兰州塞维·蔡斯的罗伊·基维蒂和阿黛尔·基维蒂，他们是一对合法结婚的同性恋夫妇，都是美国公民。

虽然基维提夫妇自2013年以来一直结婚，但国务院基本上无视他们的婚姻，并确定凯塞姆是非婚生子女，需要与在美国居住至少五年的美国公民父母有生物学联系才能成为美国公民。

因为她的生父阿黛尔·基维蒂在她出生时没有这样做，所以她不能自动获得美国公民身份，该部门说——这一决定去年6月被一名联邦法官驳回。

去年8月，另一名联邦法官做出了有利于德里克·米泽(Derek Mize)和乔纳森·格雷格(Jonathan Gregg)的裁决。这对夫妇是亚特兰大地区的一对已婚同性恋夫妇，他们的女儿西蒙妮(Simone)于2018年由英国的一名代孕母亲所生。这意味着在国务院看来，她是“一个美国公民父亲的非婚生子女”，而不是被授予公民身份，“不管这个男人是否已婚。”

他们两个女儿的案件都在去年10月得到解决，当时国务院撤回了对Kiviti案的上诉，并决定不对Mize-Gregg案提出上诉。但米泽-格雷格夫妇周二对政策的变化表示欢迎，他们告诉美国广播公司新闻，“他们感到谦卑，因为我们的斗争，以及其他家庭形成的斗争，能够在实现这一变化方面发挥作用。”

“任何家庭都不应该经历我们所经历的痛苦、压力和侮辱。他们在一份声明中说:“我们自己的政府拒绝承认我们的孩子是美国公民，因为我们是一对同性恋夫妇，这给我们带来了极大的创伤。”。

国务院拒绝提供有多少孩子或夫妇可能受到这一变化影响的数字，但冈萨雷斯-帕甘说，这一变化有利于“多个家庭，这些家庭仍在为他们孩子的公民身份而斗争”，并且“真正体现了我们作为一个国家的价值观”。

State Dept. ends policy denying US citizenship to children born through in vitro, surrogacy

The State Department will now grant U.S. citizenship to children born overseas to same-sex and heterosexual American couples through in vitro fertilization, surrogacy and other assisted reproductive technology, the agency said Tuesday, notifying all U.S. posts overseas and Congress of the historic change.

The new policy comes after the agency has recentlyfaced several lawsuitsbrought bysame-sex couples suingfor their children's citizenship -- losing two federal cases last year.

The Trump administration had been fighting those losses, including by filing an appeal last August, and defending what had been longstanding U.S. policy that considered children born abroad to a surrogate to be born "out of wedlock" even when a couple was married.

While the State Department dropped its appeals in two cases in October, the agency continued to implement the policy of denying citizenship, prompting new litigation.

But as of Tuesday, all U.S. diplomatic posts have been informed to grant citizenship to these children if the parents are legally married and the child has a genetic or gestational tie to one parent, in addition to other existing requirements, such as that parent residing in the U.S. for at least five years in total.

The policy change is also retroactive, allowing couples previously denied citizenship for their child to reapply and now transmit citizenship to their child.

This "is going to allow an increased number of married couples, who are using ART (assisted reproductive technology), to transmit citizenship to their children -- and we are excited about that," said a State Department official, calling it a "recognition of the realities of modern family."

While the high-profile cases of recent years have focused on same-sex couples whose child was denied citizenship by the Trump administration, the policy will apply to same-sex and heterosexual couples.

"No one can deny that LGBTQI folks will benefit from this, but it is not exclusive to that in any way, shape or form," said the State Department official, who spoke on background to preview the policy change.

Still, the lawyers and plaintiffs of last year's lawsuits welcomed the news as "long overdue," in the words of Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, the legal nonprofit that helped to represent two couples.

"This has been a policy that was not only unlawful, as recognized by the courts in multiple cases, but that really caused harm and anguish to multiple families -- stress and fear about the status of their children and their ability to be in the United States and their ability to have the full benefits and responsibilities of citizenship," Gonzalez-Pagan told ABC News.

The State Department official said the policy change is not accompanied by other changes and will not apply to unmarried couples, but the retroactive policy applies back to 1952, when the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was passed.

Critics have condemned the previous policy as antiquated, especially because it's based on that 1950's law, crafted years before in vitro fertilization and decades before legal same-sex marriage. The policy itself was first developed in the 1990s to comply with the INA, but it was repeatedly defeated in individual cases brought by heterosexual couples and, in more recent years, legally married same-sex couples.

That prompted questions about why the Trump administration had been so vigorously defending it decades later in court, filing an appeal last August to deny citizenship to Kessem Kiviti.

Kessem was born via surrogacy in Canada in February 2019 to Roee Kiviti and Adiel Kiviti of Chevy Chase, Maryland, a legally married gay couple who are both U.S. citizens.

While the Kiviti's have been married since 2013, the State Department essentially disregarded their marriage and determined that Kessem was born out of wedlock and required a biological connection to a U.S. citizen parent who resided in the U.S. for at least five years in total in order to be a U.S. citizen.

Because Adiel Kiviti, her biological father, had not done so at the time of her birth, she did not automatically qualify for U.S. citizenship, the department said -- a determination that a federal judge rejected last June.

undefinedMORE: State Dept. panel to redefine human rights based on 'natural law and natural rights'

Last August, another federal judge ruled in favor of Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg, a married gay couple in the Atlanta area whose daughter Simone was born in 2018 to a surrogate in the United Kingdom. That meant she was "born out of wedlock of a U.S. citizen father" in the State Department's view and not granted citizenship, "regardless of whether the man is married."

Both of their daughters' cases were resolved last October, when the State Department withdrew its appeal in the Kiviti case and decided not to appeal against the Mize-Gregg's. But the Mize-Gregg's welcomed the change in policy Tuesday, telling ABC News they were "humbled that our fight, as well those forged by other families, was able to play a part in bringing about this change."

"No family should have to go through the anguish, stress and indignity we went through. It was deeply traumatizing to have our own government refuse to recognize our child as a U.S. citizen because we are a gay couple," they said in a statement.

The State Department declined to provide figures for how many children or couples could be affected by the change, but Gonzalez-Pagan said the change benefits "multiple families that are still fighting for recognition for the citizenship of their children" and "really speaks to our values as a country."