(a)  A party to a gestational carrier agreement may withdraw consent to any medical procedure and may terminate the gestational carrier agreement at any time prior to any embryo transfer or implantation by giving written notice of termination to all other parties.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-806

  • Embryo: means a cell or group of cells containing a diploid complement of chromosomes or a group of such cells, not including a gamete, that has the potential to develop into a live born human being if transferred into the body of a person under conditions in which gestation may be reasonably expected to occur. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Gestational carrier: means an adult individual who is not an intended parent and who enters into a gestational carrier agreement to bear a child conceived using the gametes of another individual and not the gestational carrier's own, except that an individual who carries a child for a family member using the gestational carrier's own gametes and who fulfills the requirements of article 8 of this chapter is a gestational carrier. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102
  • Gestational carrier agreement: means a contract between an intended parent or parents and a gestational carrier intended to result in a live birth. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102
  • Intended parent: means an individual, whether married or unmarried, who manifests an intent to be legally bound as a parent of a child conceived through assisted reproduction or a gestational carrier agreement. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102
  • Spouse: includes a partner in a civil union or a partner in a legal relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage and is recognized as valid in the state or jurisdiction in which it was entered. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102
  • Transfer: means a procedure for assisted reproduction by which an embryo or sperm is placed in the body of the individual who will give birth to the child. See Rhode Island General Laws 15-8.1-102

(b)  Upon termination of the gestational carrier agreement under subsection (a) of this section, and unless a gestational carrier agreement provides otherwise, the gestational carrier is entitled to keep all payments received and obtain all payments to which the gestational carrier is entitled through the date of termination. Except in a case involving fraud, neither a prospective gestational carrier nor the gestational carrier’s spouse, if any, is liable to the intended parent or parents for terminating a gestational carrier agreement under this section.

History of Section.
P.L. 2020, ch. 59, § 2; P.L. 2020, ch. 60, § 2.