The Emerging Field of Assisted Reproductive Technology Law in Montana
Reproductive Technology Law?
Montana does not yet have surrogacy agencies, egg donor agencies, or sperm banks. Nonetheless, gestational surrogates, egg donors, and sperm donors who help people create families through assisted reproductive technology (ART) do live in Montana. ART arrangements more often than not are multi-jurisdictional or international. The law in every state and country is different and few states have any laws addressing these arrangements. As a result these arrangements are legally, as well as ethically, complicated. People who enter into these arrangements without first obtaining competent legal advice may later surprisingly learn that their legal rights and responsibilities are very different from what they intended. For example, a sperm donor may be required to pay child support, the parental rights of an intended parent may later be challenged, or citizenship of a child may be denied. Unintended consequences like these can be prevented with competent legal assistance.
—Susan Ridgeway