Maine Comment

The intent of the UPA is to clarify the parentage of all of the children born of modern science and without regard to the marital status of the parents. Therefore, the Maine version establishes that the parent-child relationship is created between a person and the resulting child if the person provides sperm or egg or consents to assisted reproduction by a woman with the intent to be the parent of her child. This provision reflects the concern for the best interest of all children of assisted reproduction. Given the dramatic increase in the use of ART in Maine during the past decade, it is crucial to clarify the parentage of every child born as a result of modern science and to provide every child in Maine with the opportunity to have as parents, without regard to gender, both the birth parent and the parent who either contributed sperm or an egg or consented to assisted reproduction with the intent to be the parent of the child.

Further, the UPA must operate in a gender-neutral manner, that is, it must apply equally to women and men. The statutory means available to establish paternity must also be available, where appropriate, to establish the existence of a mother and child relationship. The UPA mandates in section 106 that the provisions of the UPA relating to determination of paternity apply equally to determinations of maternity. Thus a woman is a legal parent of a child gestated by another woman where she has provided an egg or consented to assisted reproduction with the intention of parenting the resulting child. Section 1983 serves to protect the welfare and best interest of every child born of assisted reproductive technology by ensuring that a child will have the opportunity to have as parents both the person who gives birth to the child and the person who either donated the egg or sperm or the person who consented to the assisted reproduction with the intent to be the parent of the child.

§1964.__Consent to assisted reproduction

1.__Consent.__Consent by a woman and a person who intends to be a parent of a child born to the woman by assisted reproduction must be in a record signed by the woman and the person who intends to be a parent. This requirement does not apply to a donor.