The Parentage Act

On July 31st, 2024 the Massachusetts Legislature passed H.4790, An Act to ensure legal parentage equality and is now pending before the Governor for her signature. The Governor has 10 days (from the bill’s passage) to sign the legislation. If she does not sign the bill within 10 days, it automatically becomes law. She is expected to sign the bill into law. 

This legislation extends the full rights of parentage to LGBTQ+ families and families created via assisted reproduction. The bill also dismantles archaic legal barriers to basic parenting responsibilities for modern families, opening the door to legally attend and make decisions during medical appointments, manage a child’s finances, participate in educational decisions, and provide authorizations for a child’s travel.

Despite leading the nation by legalizing same-sex marriage 20 years ago, LGBTQ+ residents have continued to face significant barriers in obtaining full legal recognition as a parent. In response, the legislature’s bill updates the Commonwealth’s laws so common paths to parentage may be utilized equally by all families, regardless of marital status. It also creates a new path to parentage for individuals who are “de facto'' parents and ensures that every child and parent has the same rights and protections without regard to the marital status, gender identity or sexual orientation of their parents or the circumstances of their birth. 

The legislation also makes critical updates to laws related to assisted reproduction, including surrogacy and in-virto fertilization (IVF). It outlines rights, requirements, procedures and safeguards for parents, donors, surrogates, and others involved in the process. Further, it establishes clear paths to parentage for individuals or couples utilizing assisted reproduction and surrogacy in order to provide legal recognition and status prior to the child’s birth. 

For many families, non-biological parents are their child’s parents in every way, except being legally recognized as such. This bill legally recognizes the importance of relationships between children and parents in modern families and affords individuals who have been acting in a meaningful parental role for a significant amount of time the opportunity to seek full legal rights befitting their relationship. Lastly, it provides notice, and an opportunity to be heard, to existing parents, and adds safeguards against abuse and protections for domestic violence survivors and military parents. I am proud to have voted in favor of this critical legislation, and I look forward to it being signed into law in the coming days.