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| This section is entirely new to the Parentage Act, but its logic | | is derived from the policy stated in § 707, infra. Subsection (a) | | applies only to married couples and posits that if there is to be | | no liability for a child conceived by assisted reproduction after | | death, then there should be no liability for a child conceived or | | implanted after divorce. If a former wife proceeds with assisted | | reproduction after a divorce, the former husband is not the legal | | parent of the resulting child unless he had previously consented in | | a record to post-divorce assisted reproduction. If such were the | | case, subsection (b) provides a mechanism for him to withdraw that | | consent, i.e., by so stating in a record (presumably to be filed | | with the laboratory in which the sperm or embryos are stored). |
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| | | An amendment in 2002 extends a similar right to an unmarried | | man. Although there is no automatic cancellation of consent via | | divorce in the unmarried context, the man may withdraw his | | consent to ART before the woman conceives or is implanted, and | | thereby avoid being determined to be the legal parent of the | | resulting child. |
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| | | In either fact scenario, a child born through assisted | | reproduction accomplished after consent has been voided by | | divorce or withdrawn in a record will have a legal mother under § | | 201(a)(1). However, the child will have a genetic father, but not | | a legal father. In this instance, intention, rather than biology, | | is the controlling factor. The section is intended to encourage | | careful drafting of assisted reproduction agreements. The | | attorney and the parties themselves should discuss the issue and | | clarify their intent before a problem arises. |
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| | | This Act does not attempt to resolve issues as to control of | | frozen embryos following dissolution of marital or nonmarital | | relationships. As indicated in the prefatory note, those matters | | are left to other state laws. |
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| | | Maine's revision provides a mechanism to ensure that the woman | | bearing a child of assisted reproduction has actual written | | notice of withdrawal of consent to assisted reproduction before | | placement of the sperm or embryo. |
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| | | §1967.__Parental status of deceased individual |
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| | | If an individual who consented in a record to be a parent by | | assisted reproduction dies before placement of eggs, sperm or | | embryos, the deceased individual is not a parent of the resulting | | child unless the deceased individual consented in a record that, |
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