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"gestational mother." The former is both a gestational and genetic | | mother, while the latter also gives birth to a child, who may or | | may not be her genetic child. In the Act the term "gestational | | mother" is narrowly defined to restrict it to a situation in which | | a woman gives birth to a child pursuant to a gestational agreement | | validated under Article 8. If Article 8 is not enacted, this | | definition should be omitted from the Act. The 2002 amendment | | providing that the gestational mother must be an adult corrects a | | drafting oversight. |
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| | | A 2002 amendment deleted former subsection (12), "intended | | parents," as adopted in UPA 2000. That term is now employed | | exclusively in bracketed Article 8, and thus is no longer | | appropriate as a definition for the Act. |
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| | | Subsection (14), "parent-child relationship," is derived from | | UPA (1973) § 1. A wide variety of the rights and duties flowing | | to and from parents and children are found in many other laws of | | this state. |
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| | | Subsection (15), "paternity index," defines a complex | | scientific and mathematical concept. Note that the definition | | includes statistical measures of the mother and tested man. The | | tested man may be an alleged father, or any other potential | | biological father. In fact, under appropriate circumstances | | Article 5 provides for testing without samples from the mother or | | the alleged father. In these cases the expert statistically | | reconstructs the missing potential mother or biological father | | from genetic testing of samples from their relatives. Therefore | | the definition is correct even in cases involving a missing | | parent. |
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| | | Subsection (18) is derived from the Uniform Electronic | | Transactions Act § 102(13), which establishes a standard for | | either paper or electronic record keeping. |
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| | | Specific gender references have been removed from several | | definitions consistent with other Maine amendments that make the | | UPA gender neutral and ensure equal treatment for every child | | regardless of the circumstances of the parent or parents. |
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| | | §1833. Scope of chapter; choice of law |
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| | | 1.__Scope.__This chapter applies to determination of parentage | | in this State. |
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