`Parentage Equality' Gets Praise and Brickbats

Last week, the Massachusetts Legislature today passed An Act to ensure legal parentage equality, extending the full rights of parentage to LGBTQ+ families and families created via assisted reproduction, according to a press release from House Speaker Ron Mariano.

The bill dismantles what he called “archaic legal barriers” to basic parenting responsibilities for modern families, opening the door to legally attend and make decisions during medical appointments, manage a child’s finances, participate in educational decisions, and provide authorizations for a child’s travel. It also eliminated the time-honored terms, father and mother, raising the ire of traditionalists and even some who didn’t think they were.

“Ensuring that the Commonwealth’s laws reflect an evolving society, along with the implications of modern technology, is a key responsibility that we have as elected officials. By bolstering protections for children born through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, and to same-sex parents, we are doing just that,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy).

A group that leans conservative, calling itself “Mass Resistance,” dubbed the bill ‘mind numbing,’ and pointed out areas in the 42-page law that they found problematic, namely, (quoting from their news release):

• It’s been fairly common to pay a woman for surrogacy (carrying a baby for someone else) prior to pregnancy. But it hasn’t been something that’s included in family law. This bill includes surrogacy agreements for pay – to specifically make it a “normal” part of society that’s sanctioned by the state and is not limited to before the pregnancy. Not only can a woman be paid to carry a child for someone else, but she can be in the business of getting pregnant via sperm donors in order to sell the babies to the highest bidders.

• Throughout Massachusetts family law, the word “paternity” (meaning actual biological parents) is replaced with “parentage” (which is defined as “a legal relationship” between a child and the adult).
• The word “mother” in family law is replaced with “person who gave birth to the child.” The word “father” is replaced with “other parent.” In addition, the roles of father and mother are removed from the statutes and replaced with gender-neutral terminology. Even the words “a man and a woman” are replaced with “persons.”
• The baby’s biological mother and father can now be changed on the birth certificate to the two same-sex adults. Even the “intended parents” (a new legal term) can be listed on the birth certificate instead of the biological parents.
• The new law creates new legal issues to be resolved. If one member of the same-sex couple claims to be the actual parent, and the other doubts that, there is a process in the law to resolve this in court, and the term “alleged genetic parent” is used.
• The law applies differently to “a child conceived by sexual intercourse or assisted reproduction under a surrogacy agreement” versus other means.
• The laws regarding divorce and child custody are also changed dramatically to allow for these new family/child relationship permutations.
• A sperm donor shall not be considered to be the actual father the child, despite his obvious genetic connection. But a woman who, at the time of a child’s birth, is the same-sex spouse of the woman who gave birth to the child by “assisted reproduction” is automatically considered to be the other parent.
• The bill states, “The court may adjudicate a child to have more than 2 parents if the court finds that it is in the best interest of the child.”

Still, legislators and their supporters expressed strong commitment to the bill.

“Today we are modernizing laws to match modern families across the Commonwealth,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “No matter what path you took to parenthood, today the Legislature has acted to make sure that in Massachusetts archaic beliefs and laws no longer stand in your way as a parent. I offer my sincere gratitude to Senator Cyr for his leadership of the committee, each conferee, and our partners in the House,” Spilka added

The bill’s sponsors came from both parties and included Senators Julian Cyr (D) and Bruce Tarr (R), Representatives Sarah Peake (D), Hannah Kane (R), and Kay Khan (D).

The Massachusetts Parentage Act was also supported by 60 organizations ranging from hospitals, to unions.