DOVER, DE – Senator Dave Lawson (R – Marydel) and House Republican Leader Tim Dukes (R – Laurel) last week introduced Senate Bill 236 (SB 236) to update Delaware’s parentage law and clarify access to medical and identifying information for individuals conceived through assisted reproduction once they reach adulthood.
Under the legislation, gamete banks and fertility clinics would be required to collect and maintain identifying information and nonidentifying medical history from gamete donors. Upon request, nonidentifying medical history must be made available to parents at any time and to donor-conceived individuals when they turn 18. Identifying information about the donor must be provided to a donor-conceived individual upon request once they attain 18 years of age.
Senator Lawson said SB 236 reflects the growing use of assisted reproductive technology and the need for clarity in state law.
“As more families rely on assisted reproduction, it is critical that we provide a clear, consistent legal framework that respects both parents and children,” Senator Lawson said. “This legislation makes clear that individuals conceived through these methods can obtain important medical history and, as adults, identifying information about their donor. That knowledge can be essential for medical, personal, and family reasons.”
The bill adopts portions of the 2017 updates to the Uniform Parentage Act, a model law developed to help states address evolving issues related to assisted reproduction in a consistent manner.
“This is a transparency issue at the most fundamental level,” Representative Dukes said. “In an era where consumer testing like 23 and Me and AncestryDNA has become commonplace, we need to recognize that anonymous donations have already largely become a thing of the past. SB 236 is part of a growing ethical consensus that individuals conceived with donated genetic material have a right to know about the most personal information there is – the data encoded into every cell of their bodies.”
According to federal data, approximately 1.6% of babies born in the United States each year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology, a number that continues to grow.
Senate Bill 236 has been assigned to the Senate Health & Social Services Committee for consideration.
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