HCS HB 2384 -- EMBRYO TRANSFERS

SPONSOR:  Davis (Tracy)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Special Committee on
Children and Families by a vote of 7 to 3.

This substitute establishes the Embryo Transfer Act which
authorizes a legal embryo custodian to relinquish all rights and
responsibilities for an embryo to a recipient intended parent
prior to an embryo transfer.  A legal embryo custodian must have
a written contract with each recipient intended parent prior to
an embryo transfer for the legal transfer of rights to an embryo
and to any child that may result from the transfer.

The contract must include the designation by the recipient
intended parent of an agent who is authorized to act on behalf of
the parent and must be signed by each legal embryo custodian for
the embryo and by each recipient intended parent.  The contract
nullifies any prior written agreement regarding the disposition
of the embryo.  If the embryo was created using donor sperm and
egg, the rights to an embryo created by an in vitro fertilization
clinic will be irrevocably relinquished to an agent of the
clinic.

Prior to the creation of an embryo, the legal embryo custodian
must establish that the embryo donor has tested negative for all
infectious diseases on the United States Food and Drug
Administration's Complete List of Donor Screening Assays for
Infectious Agents and HIV Diagnosis Assays and designate a legal
embryo custodian for the embryo who is authorized to act in the
event of the death or incapacitation of the person or persons
creating the embryo.

Upon embryo relinquishment by each legal embryo custodian, the
legal transfer of rights to an embryo will be considered
complete, and the embryo transfer will be authorized.  A child
born to a recipient intended parent as the result of embryo
relinquishment will be presumed to be the legal child of the
recipient intended parent if each legal embryo custodian and each
recipient intended parent has entered into a written contract.  A
completed embryo transfer contract will terminate any future
parental rights and responsibilities of any past or present legal
embryo custodian or sperm or egg donor in a child which results
from the embryo transfer and vest the rights and responsibilities
in the recipient intended parent.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2011, FY 2012, and
FY 2013.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that there are currently over 400,000
frozen embryos in the United States and there is a question as to
what happens to those embryos if something were to happen to
their biological parents.  The bill requires the biological
parents to name a legal custodian prior to the embryo being
created so that if something happened to the biological parents,
there would be a custodian who could take custody of the embryo.
Currently under Missouri law, embryos are considered under the
provisions regarding property law.  This legislation makes it
clear that the right to an embryo is severed upon the transfer of
the embryo to the recipient parent.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Tracy; Missouri Right
to Life; and Missouri Family Network.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:13 pm