Bill > S1130

This bill aims to promote children's security by providing gender-neutral and inclusive updates to the laws regarding parentage in Massachusetts. The key provisions of the bill include: - Establishing that every child has the same rights and protections under the law regardless of the marital status or gender of the parents or the circumstances of the child's birth, including assisted reproduction or surrogacy. - Replacing the term "paternity" with the gender-neutral term "parentage" throughout the relevant laws. - Updating the presumption of parentage to apply to any person, not just a "man." - Clarifying the process for establishing parentage, including through acknowledgment, adjudication, adoption, assisted reproduction, and surrogacy agreements. - Providing detailed rules and requirements for assisted reproduction and gestational/genetic surrogacy agreements to determine legal parentage. - Allowing courts to adjudicate that a child may have more than two legal parents if it is in the best interest of the child. - Making various other updates to ensure the laws are applied in a gender-neutral manner and promote children's security. The bill aims to modernize Massachusetts' parentage laws to be more inclusive and protect the rights of all families and children.

Justice

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/S1130