Just 1 New Law Went Into Effect In Rhode Island On January 1

Cranston RI

04 January, 2021

1:21 PM

Description

PROVIDENCE, RI — Thanks largely in part to months of canceled sessions forced by the coronavirus pandemic, just one new law went into effect in Rhode Island this New Year's Day. The Rhode Island Parentage Act, signed into law in July, updates the state's antiquated laws to clarify parentage to meet 21st century needs. The bill's sponsors, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee and Sen. Erin Lynch Prata, called the existing law "archaic and inequitable," discriminating against nontraditional families and parentage. The new law has procedures in place for establishing parentage, genetic testing, surrogacy agreements and assisted reproduction. Before this new law, the state's parentage laws had not been updated in more than 40 years. "Our state's adoption and parentage laws are significantly outdated, especially toward our state's loving LGBTQ parents who want nothing more than to love, protect and be responsible for their children," Rep. McEntee said at the time of the bill's consideration. "These bills are needed because we must acknowledge that our society and its definition of 'families' has changed and we cannot discriminate or put up undue burdens for those who wish nothing more than to love and raise the future members of our society. The legislation is also supremely beneficial to the children who are born through these processes because it allows them to officially have two loving and supportive parents from the moment they are born. This bill is specifically about one thing - equality and fairness, especially for the loving parents and their children in this state." Lynch-Prata, who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, said she and her colleagues heard "heart-wrenching testimony" from families who were negatively impacted by the outdated statute. "As our laws stand right now, a couple who have a child via a sperm donor may have to hire a lawyer or advertise to determine parentage in order to terminate the parental rights of an anonymous sperm donor," she said before the bill's passage. "Parents may be unable to make medical decisions for their child when they're incapacitated due to complications. This is simply unfair. Rhode Island law needs to be updated so that the state no longer puts up unnecessary obstacles to loving parents simply because they are not heterosexual or have not conceived through traditional reproduction methods." Under the new law, there are now nine paths to legal parentage in Rhode Island: birth, adoption, acknowledgement, adjudication, genetics, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, de facto parentage and presumptions. In addition, it provides clear standards for Family Court to apply to establish parentage. "Love is love — it's as simple as that," Gov. Gina Raimondo said when she signed the bill into law. "No parent should have to jump through hoops to receive legal recognition because of their sexual orientation or the circumstances of their child's birth. The Rhode Island Uniform Parentage Act enshrines into law our belief in the validity of all paths to parenthood.""