HCS SB 684 -- FOREIGN ADOPTION ORDERS AND EMBRYO TRANSFER ACT

SPONSOR:  Rupp (Stevenson)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Judiciary
by a vote of 7 to 3.

This substitute changes the laws regarding foreign adoption
orders and establishes the Embryo Transfer Act.

FOREIGN ADOPTION ORDERS

A technical error in a provision regarding the process for the
recognition of a foreign adoption order is corrected.

EMBRYO TRANSFER ACT

The Embryo Transfer Act is established which authorizes a legal
embryo custodian to relinquish all rights and responsibilities
for an embryo to a recipient intended parent prior to an embryo
transfer.  A legal embryo custodian must have a written contract
with each recipient intended parent prior to an embryo transfer
for the legal transfer of rights to an embryo and to any child
who may result from the transfer.

The contract must include the designation by the recipient
intended parent of an agent who is authorized to act on behalf of
the parent and must be signed by each legal embryo custodian for
the embryo and by each recipient intended parent.  The contract
nullifies any prior written agreement regarding the disposition
of the embryo.  If the embryo was created using donor sperm and
egg, the rights to an embryo created by an in vitro fertilization
clinic will be irrevocably relinquished to an agent of the
clinic.

Prior to the creation of an embryo, the legal embryo custodian
must establish that the embryo donor has tested negative for all
infectious diseases on the United States Food and Drug
Administration's Complete List of Donor Screening Assays for
Infectious Agents and HIV Diagnosis Assays and designate a legal
embryo custodian for the embryo who is authorized to act in the
event of the death or incapacitation of the person or persons
creating the embryo.

Upon embryo relinquishment by each legal embryo custodian, the
legal transfer of rights to an embryo will be considered
complete, and the embryo transfer will be authorized.  A child
born to a recipient intended parent as the result of embryo
relinquishment will be presumed to be the legal child of the
recipient intended parent if each legal embryo custodian and each
recipient intended parent has entered into a written contract.  A
completed embryo transfer contract will terminate any future
parental rights and responsibilities of any past or present legal
embryo custodian or sperm or egg donor in a child which results
from the embryo transfer and vest the rights and responsibilities
in the recipient intended parent.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2011, FY 2012, and
FY 2013.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the bill corrects a technical
error in statute.

Testifying for the bill was Representative Stevenson for Senator
Rupp.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:14 pm