Mass. House plans vote on bill clarifying parenting laws ‘within the month,’ Mariano says
House lawmakers will be asked later this month to vote on legislation advocates argue updates “archaic” parentage laws to make it easier for members of the LGBTQ+ community to become parents, the chamber’s top Democrat said Wednesday during a Pride Month event.
The bill, dubbed the “Massachusetts Parentage Act” by supporters, looks to update rules dictating who exactly can be recognized as a child’s parent and how a person can become a parent. The proposal has floated for years on Beacon Hill and has been rewritten “100 times,” one of its chief sponsors, Rep. Sarah Peake, told the Herald.
House Speaker Ron Mariano said the House will take up the bill “within the month” even though there may not be “100% agreement” on the legislation.
“But I think we have enough votes to get it out there and begin the discussion and let people become aware of how important this is,” Mariano said at a Pride Flag raising event outside the State House. “We have to straighten out the laws, the archaic laws, on how we determine the family relationships. And this is a first step and it took an awful lot of work.”
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The Legislation, which has the backing of Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, takes aim at a wide array of paths to parentage — birth, adoption, acknowledgment, adjudication, genetics, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, de facto parentage, and presumptions.
A version of the proposal that is queued up for debate, but could still change on its way to the House floor, provides a “clear route” to children born through assisted reproduction technology like in vitro fertilization to establish their parentage, according to GLAD.
The bill also lays out standards for establishing parentage through surrogacy and “ensures equality for LGBTQ families” looking to become parents, including through voluntary acknowledgment, the organization said.
The legislation updates court protocols for resolving competing claims of parentage, codifies precedents from the Supreme Judicial Court, and “ensures greater efficiency and consistency in our courts and reduces unnecessary litigation,” according to GLAD.
Peake said there were lengthy negotiations with people concerned about language around surrogacy.
“I believe we’ve addressed all of those, put in some of the strictest protections of any state in the nation. So I think we’re good to go and it’s an important thing to do,” the Provincetown Democrat said.
The bill House legislators are expected to take a vote on is based on the 1973 Uniform Parentage Act, which was originally passed to update laws regarding children born to unmarried people.
Every other New England state has “comprehensive parentage protections in their statues,” according to GLAD.