9:17-69 Findings, declarations relative to establishing legal parentage.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. Modern medical advances have made parenthood possible for many couples that would not otherwise be able to have their own child, thanks to the availability of assisted reproduction procedures.

b. These procedures have enabled same-sex couples, opposite-sex couples dealing with infertility, and transgender and non-binary individuals, to become parents.

c. Societal recognition of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary individuals, in combination with advances in assisted reproduction, has outpaced changes in the law concerning processes for establishing legal parentage.

d. A spouse or partner in civil union who may not be genetically related to the child or who may not have gestated the child born to the couple through assisted reproduction is required to go through the lengthy and expensive process of adopting the child in order to confirm legal parentage.

e. By streamlining the process by which couples in this situation can legally confirm that both spouses in a marriage or both partners in civil union are parents of the child, this act reflects the current reality of many families in New Jersey, while ensuring that the rights of any other individuals who may have parental rights to the child are addressed.

f. In order to ensure that couples who have used assisted reproduction may have a non-genetic parent's rights afforded full faith and credit in all states, as guaranteed by the United States Constitution, this bill establishes a process to obtain a judgement of adoption from the court that optimizes judicial efficiency and use of court personnel.

L.2019, c.323, s.1.