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rights of children born to married parents. Hogsett, ¶ 36 (Furman, J., specially
concurring); see also, e.g., § 19-4-103, C.R.S. (2020) (providing that for purposes of
the Uniform Parentage Act, “[t]he parent and child relationship extends equally to
every child and to every parent, regardless of the marital status of the parents”);
ch. 96, sec. 1, 2018 Colo. Sess. Laws 752, 752 (“eliminat[ing] and moderniz[ing] the
outdated use of the terms ‘illegitimate child’ or ‘legitimate child’ or related terms”
in the Colorado Revised Statutes). For that matter, parentage today takes many
forms; married or not, many parents have children through adoption, §§ 19-5-201
to -203, C.R.S. (2020) (permitting individual, marital, stepparent, and second-
parent adoption), or assisted reproductive technologies, see In re Marriage of Rooks,
2018 CO 85, 429 P.3d 579. Finally, just as having shared biological or genetic
children is not an indicator of marriage, it is also not a requirement of marriage.
See Obergefell, 576 U.S. at 646 (“Precedent protects the right of a married couple not
to procreate, so the right to marry cannot be conditioned on the capacity or
commitment to procreate.”). In short, whether a couple has or raises children
together is not necessarily indicative of a marriage.
¶45 The same is true for couples’ name-changing practices. The custom cited in
Lucero of a woman adopting her husband’s surname dates back to the doctrine of
coverture, wherein “the very being or legal existence of the woman [was]
suspended during the marriage.” 1 William Blackstone, Commentaries *430.