9:17-44 Artificial insemination.

7. a. If, under the supervision of a licensed physician, a physician assistant, or an advanced practice nurse, and with the consent of her spouse or partner in a civil union, a woman is inseminated artificially with semen donated by a man not her spouse or partner, the spouse or partner is treated in law as if the spouse or partner were the legal parent of a child thereby conceived. The consent of the spouse or partner shall be in writing and signed by both parties to the marriage or civil union. The physician, physician assistant, or advance practice nurse shall certify their signatures and the date of the insemination, upon forms provided by the Department of Health, and file the consent with the Department of Health, where it shall be kept confidential and in a sealed file. However, the physician's, physician assistant's, or advance practice nurse's failure to do so shall not affect the parent and child relationship of the spouse or partner. All papers and records pertaining to the insemination, whether part of the permanent record of a court or of a file held by the supervising physician, physician's assistant, or advance practice nurse or elsewhere, are subject to inspection only upon an order of the court for compelling reasons clearly and convincingly shown.

b. Unless the donor of semen and the woman have entered into a written contract to the contrary, the donor of semen provided to a licensed physician, physician assistant, or advance practice nurse for use in artificial insemination of a woman other than the spouse or partner in a civil union is treated in law as if the donor of semen were not the legal parent of a child thereby conceived and shall have no rights or duties stemming from the conception of a child.

c. This section shall not apply in a proceeding to determine parentage of a child born in connection with a gestational carrier agreement executed in accordance with the provisions of P.L.2018, c.18 (C.9:17-60 et al.).

L.1983, c.17, s.7; amended 2018, c.18, s.13.