Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2720.3 – Proceeding to approve gestational carrier contract
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2720.3
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Gestational carrier: means a woman who agrees to engage in a process by which she attempts to carry and give birth to a child born as a result of an in utero transfer of a human embryo to which she makes no genetic contribution. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2718.1
- In utero embryo transfer: means the medical procedure whereby the genetic mother's egg is fertilized with the sperm of the genetic father, with the resulting embryo transferred into the uterus of the gestational carrier. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2718.1
- Intended parents: means a married couple who each exclusively contribute their own gametes to create their embryo and who enter into an enforceable gestational carrier contract, as defined in this Chapter, with a gestational carrier pursuant to which the intended parents will be the legal parents of the child resulting from an in utero embryo transfer. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:2718.1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
A. Prior to in utero embryo transfer, the intended parents or the gestational carrier and her spouse, if she is married, may initiate a summary proceeding in the court exercising jurisdiction over the adoption of minors where the intended parents or the gestational carrier reside, seeking to have the court approve a gestational carrier contract.
B. A proceeding to approve a gestational carrier contract shall be maintained only if all of the following occur:
(1) The gestational carrier and each of the intended parents have been domiciled in this state for at least one hundred eighty days.
(2) The intended parents, the gestational carrier, and her spouse, if she is married, are all parties to the proceeding.
(3) A copy of the proposed gestational carrier contract is attached to the motion.
(4) An independent board-certified physician in obstetrics and gynecology or in reproductive endocrinology, who has medically treated the intended mother over a period of time such that the physician is competent to reach medical conclusions about the intended mother’s medical condition and submits a signed affidavit certifying that in utero embryo transfer with a gestational carrier is medically necessary to assist in reproduction.
(5) For purposes of this Section, “medically necessary” means that the intended mother has been diagnosed to be infertile, or to have a physical condition such that a pregnancy would create serious risk of death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function beyond the risk customary to pregnancy and child birth.
Acts 2016, No. 494, §1.