France’s highest court has ruled that a transgender woman cannot be officially recognised as the biological mother of the child she conceived with her wife before transitioning. The court ruled on Wednesday that a 51-year old transgender woman, referred to in court as ‘Claire’, would have to adopt the six-year-old child in order to become one of its two legal mothers. “My client is devastated […] this is a lost opportunity,” Clelia Richard, one of the lawyers, told Libération newspaper. “The justice system is rigid, immobile, as is often the case.” Bastien Lachaud, MP with the hard-left France Unbowed party, described the decision as “unjust and incomprehensible” and called for the law to be completed to allow filiation for trans persons. The case has now been referred back to a lower court for a new hearing.