Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 126-H.F.No. 470 
           An act relating to family law; eliminating the 
          requirement that a husband's consent to donor 
          insemination be filed with the commissioner of health; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 257.56, 
          subdivision 1. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 257.56, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  If, under the supervision of a licensed 
physician and with the consent of her husband, a wife is 
inseminated artificially with semen donated by a man not her 
husband, the husband is treated in law as if he were the natural 
father of a child thereby conceived.  The husband's consent must 
be in writing and signed by him and his wife.  The physician 
shall certify their signatures and the date of the insemination, 
and file the husband's consent with the commissioner of health, 
who shall keep it confidential and in a sealed file.  However, 
the physician's failure to file the consent does not affect the 
father and child relationship.  The consent must be retained by 
the physician for at least four years after the confirmation of 
a pregnancy that occurs during the process of artificial 
insemination. 
    All papers and records pertaining to the insemination, 
whether part of the permanent record of a court or of a file 
held by the supervising physician or elsewhere, are subject to 
inspection only upon an order of the court for good cause shown. 
     Sec. 2.  [EXISTING CONSENT FILE.] 
     On the effective date of section 1, the commissioner of 
health shall mail all consents on file at that time to the 
physicians who submitted them.  If the current address of the 
physician submitting any consent cannot be determined, the 
commissioner shall destroy that consent. 
     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
     Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final 
enactment. 
    Approved May 14, 1987