DELAWARE – The Delaware State Senate has passed a bill aimed at fixing a legal gap that currently prevents the name of a deceased father from being added to a child’s birth certificate in certain assisted reproduction cases. Senate Substitute 1 to Senate Bill 119, sponsored by Georgetown Republican Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, would require the State Registrar of Vital Statistics to update the birth certificate of Levi Ryan Murray to include his father, Ryan Murray. Ryan died after the embryo was created but before it was implanted, leaving the family without legal recognition of paternity. Lawmakers say the current law does not account for situations where conception occurs through assisted reproductive technology and the father passes away before birth. This measure is expected to resolve the issue for the Murray family while also highlighting a wider problem in state law. The bill is identical to the original version except for a corrected spelling of the family’s last name. It now heads to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
State Senator Brian G. Pettyjohn
Photo: senategop.delaware.gov