Senator Dave Lawson and House Republican Leader Tim Dukes have introduced Senate Bill 236 to update Delaware’s parentage law and clarify access to medical and identifying information for individuals conceived through assisted reproduction. The bill would require gamete banks and fertility clinics to collect and maintain both identifying information and nonidentifying medical history from donors. Nonidentifying medical history would be available to parents at any time and to donor-conceived individuals at age 18. Identifying information about the donor would be released to donor-conceived individuals upon request once they turn 18. SB 236 incorporates portions of the 2017 updates to the Uniform Parentage Act and reflects the growing use of assisted reproductive technology. Lawmakers describe the measure as promoting transparency and recognizing the rights of donor-conceived individuals to access important medical and personal information. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Health & Social Services Committee for consideration.
Additional Information from Legislative Hall
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.
