Georgia Legislative Watch

The Senate passed legislation allowing for the adoption of human embryos:

Human embryos could be formally adopted by people who want to become parents, under a bill that passed the Senate Wednesday.

House Bill 388 is intended to clearly relinquish rights to a human embryo and allow the parents who try to bring the embryo to life to be the legal parents of the child who may be born.

The legislation has already passed the House, but because it was changed in a Senate committee, it must go back to the House for approval.

The bill defines a human embryo as a fertilized egg, from the single-cell stage to 8-week development. The legislation skirts the issue of whether the embryo is a person. While the embryo could be adopted — as a baby would be — the bill deals with a contract regarding a parent’s rights to an embryo. It does not give the embryo its own rights.

Embryo donation is already allowed in Georgia. Supporters said the legislation would allow for a clear adoption of some of the 20,000 human embryos now frozen and housed in fertility clinics in Georgia.