Background

What is parentage?

Parentage is the legal relationship between parent and child. Legal parentage is the source of many important rights and responsibilities, including custody, child support, a parent’s right to make decisions about medical care and education, children’s right to health insurance coverage, Social Security survivor benefits, and inheritance.
 

Secure legal parentage is critical for child well-being and family stability. Legal parentage ensures a child does not lose their important connection to a parent who loves and has raised them if the adults’ relationship ends or one parent dies.

What is the purpose of the PA UPA?

The PA UPA is based on the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act (“UPA”). The UPA was drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, which provides states with non-partisan, well-considered, and carefully drafted legislation to clarify critical areas of law. 
 

The UPA was originally created over 40 years ago to address parentage of children born to unmarried parents and was updated in 2017 to ensure access to parentage on an equal basis for children born to same-sex couples and children born through assisted reproduction (AR). The UPA is a child-centered bill which ensures that all children’s relationships are protected under the law, regardless of the circumstances or manner of their birth. 
 

Over thirty states have enacted a version of the UPA or have updated their parentage laws using the UPA as a model. To read more about the PA UPA bill and its text, click here.
 

What are the key goals of the PA UPA?

• To eliminate discrimination against children based on the circumstances of their birth.
   

• To protect children’s relationships with the people who have been parenting them.

 

What are key provisions of the PA UPA?

• Provides legal security for children born through assisted reproduction and clarifies that gamete (sperm or egg) donors are not the legal parents of children born through their donation.
   

• Ensures that more Pennsylvanians have access to a simple, voluntary way to secure their parentage at birth through acknowledgments of parentage.
   

• Provides guidance for building families through surrogacy, providing important legal protections for children, parents, and people acting as surrogates.
   

Why is the UPA important for Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania currently lacks statutory guidance for determining parentage in cases involving assisted reproduction, resulting in inconsistent court decisions across counties. This creates uncertainty for families and inefficiency for courts.

 

The PA UPA creates uniformity, stability, and legal clarity for courts, lawyers, and families and would update Pennsylvania’s laws to ensure that all children have equal access to the security of a legal parent-child relationship.

 

Supporters include Pennsylvanians with infertility, people born through ART and their families, family law and assisted reproduction attorneys, fertility care doctors and counselors, children’s advocates, and infertility advocates. Click here to see a list of the organizations that have passed resolutions and/or issued letters of support for the Pennsylvania Uniform Parentage Act as of February 6, 2025. 

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