Topeka ? The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has agreed to issue birth certificates listing same-sex couples as parents in two cases.

But KDHE spokeswoman Sara Belfry said that decision does not reflect a general policy change.

“We are still reviewing these applications on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

She said the decisions to issue birth certificates in two specific cases that were part of pending legal actions in state and federal court were based “upon consideration of applicable law and review of the impact of existing court orders.”

“My clients are pleased,” said David Brown, a Lawrence attorney who filed a lawsuit on behalf of one local couple. “It’s unfortunate that they had to go to this extent, but we are happy that the state of Kansas has decided to comply. I just hope they change policy so everyone doesn’t have to sue the state.”

Brown has handled several cases involving gay rights and same-sex marriage. Last week, he filed what is called a “parentage action” in Douglas County District Court on behalf of a Lawrence couple, Casey and Jessica Smith, seeking an order directing KDHE to issue a birth certificate listing both women as parents of their child.

The Smiths were legally married in California in 2013. Casey Smith conceived a child through artificial insemination around the first of this year, using sperm from an anonymous donor and gave birth to a son in September.

Douglas County District Judge Sally Pokorny granted the order directing KDHE to list both women as parents on the birth certificate. But KDHE objected at first, saying it had not been notified of the action and had not been notified of the petition and it wanted an opportunity to respond.

A hearing in that case had been scheduled for Nov. 6.

A few days after that case was filed, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed affidavits in U.S. District on behalf of the Smiths as well as another same-sex couple, Christa Gonser and Carrie Hunt, who live in the Kansas City area. They were married in Canada in 2007.

Hunt also became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to twins at Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., on Sept. 22.

Both couples cited a Kansas statute that says married couples who conceive through artificial insemination with the knowledge and consent of both parties in the marriage “shall be considered at law in all respects the same as a naturally conceived child of the husband and wife so requesting and consenting to the use of such technique.”

But that law was written in 1968, long before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision requiring states to recognize same-sex marriages.

In both cases, the couples said KDHE had refused to issue birth certificates listing two women as the parents, saying the nonbirth mother would have to adopt the child through a process similar to a stepchild adoption.

ACLU attorney Doug Bonney said the affidavits filed in federal court were intended to show that the state of Kansas was not complying with the U.S. Supreme Court decision, or a subsequent district court decision striking down Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriage.

Bonney said he was happy for his clients, but he was not yet ready to declare victory.

“It depends whether they’re just making exceptions for these two couples or whether they’re addressing policy,” he said. “I assumed we would see something like this. The question as always is whether they have changed their procedures and policies.”

Brown said that since the Smiths’ case was first reported, six other same-sex couples have contacted his office, saying they have also been denied the right to have both names listed as parents on birth certificates.