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Abstract:
This article examines the new Model Act on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), which was approved by the American Bar Association in February, 2008. The authors were the chairs of the A.B.A Family Law Section Committee on Genetics and Reproductive Technologies during the years in which the Act was being drafted leading up to its approval by the Family Law Section, its review by other A.B.A. Sections and its final approval by the House of Delegates. The Article explains the meanings of technical ART terms used in the Act, and provides an analysis of issues such as informed consent, counseling and consultation, privacy, the status of children of ART, payments to donors, heath insurance and professional liability. On the important issue of parentage the Act substantially tracks the Uniform Parentage Act (U.P.A.), but the authors also discuss an alternative proposal embodied in the Model Act which in place of the U.P.A. court-approval model suggests that a legislature could consider enacting a contract-based model for determination of parentage issues. This article is the first publication examining the Model Act.

Model Act, Assisted Reproductive Technology, Uniform Parentage Act, American Bar Association, ART, Reproduction, parentage, gametes, embryos, posthumous reproduction, gamete donors, gestational carriers, surrogates mothers, surrogate contracts, prebirth orders, infertility, donor registries

Abstract:
Prebirth parentage orders are often sought by parties to surrogacy agreements to formalize the intent of the parties to the agreement before the child is born. Such orders declare the intended parents to be the legal parents of the child. This article discusses the benefits of such orders, as well as the difficulties in obtaining them. The availability and efficacy of prebirth parentage orders depends on many factors including the type of surrogacy arrangement, the state law that governs the proceeding, and whether the parties are in unanimous agreement. This article analyzes the various factors which impact whether obtaining a prebirth parentage order is possible and whether such an order is enforceable in several representative jurisdictions in the United States.

Surrogacy, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Family Law