434
Opinion of Stevens, J.
wards that choice and that labor by conferring citizenship on her child.
If the citizen is the unmarried male, he need not participate in the decision to give birth rather than to choose an abortion; he need not be present at the birth; and for at least 17 years thereafter he need not provide any parental support, either moral or financial, to either the mother or the child, in order to preserve his right to confer citizenship on the child pursuant to § 1409(a). In order retroactively to transmit his citizenship to the child as of the date of the child's birth, all that § 1409(a)(4) requires is that he be willing and able to acknowledge his paternity in writing under oath while the child is still a minor. 8 U. S. C. § 1409(a)(4)(B). In fact, § 1409(a)(4) requires even less of the unmarried father— that provision is alternatively satisfied if, before the child turns 18, its paternity "is established by adjudication of a competent court." § 1409(a)(4)(C). It would appear that the child could obtain such an adjudication absent any affirmative act by the father, and perhaps even over his express objection.
There is thus a vast difference between the burdens imposed on the respective parents of potential citizens born out of wedlock in a foreign land. It seems obvious that the burdens imposed on the female citizen are more severe than those imposed on the male citizen by § 1409(a)(4), the only provision at issue in this case. It is nevertheless argued that the male citizen and his offspring are the victims of irrational discrimination because § 1409(a)(4) is the product of " 'overbroad stereotypes about the relative abilities of men and women.' " Brief for Petitioner 8. We find the argument singularly unpersuasive.11
11 Though petitioner claims to be a citizen from birth, rather than claiming an immigration preference, citizenship does not pass by descent. Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U. S. 815, 830 (1971). Thus she must still meet the statutory requirements set by Congress for citizenship. Id., at 828-830; United States v. Ginsberg, 243 U. S. 472, 474 (1917). Deference to the
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