Nevada Updates Surrogacy Laws, Simplifies Birth Certificate Process for ART-born Babies

AB191: Nevada’s New Bill

Nevada currently supports gestational surrogacy, but it recently updated and simplified the parentage process for gestational carrier arrangements.

Gender Neutral Language Regarding Voluntary Parentage

AB191 will amend the existing laws to include more gender-neutral language in reference to the parentage of a child. For example, the bill no longer makes reference to the “mother and father” of a child, but the “parents” of the child. This is significant because it paves way for intended parents and same-sex couples to apply for voluntary parentage of an ART-born child.

Updated Birth Order Requirements

With the current law, parents may only apply for a birth order for surrogacy if the child was born in Nevada. This is set to change with AB19, potentially allowing any parent to apply if any one of the requirements are met:

• The Child is anticipated to be born in Nevada;
• The Child was born in Nevada;
• The Intended Parents reside in Nevada;
• The Intended Parents resided in Nevada when the contract was executed;
• The Gestational Carrier resides in Nevada;
• The Contract was executed in Nevada; or
• The medical procedures were performed in Nevada.

These amendments are a welcome update to Nevada’s surrogacy laws. ConceiveAbilities supports the various fertility communities and attorneys that continue to push legislation to accept more modern and more sensible surrogacy regulations.

Nevada’s governor, Brian Sandoval, signed the bill last week. It is set to take effect on July 1, 2017.