Wisconsin Senate Bill SB888

Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/27/26
• Refer: 1/27/26
• Failed: 3/23/26

Caption

An Act to renumber and amend 69.14 (1) (h); to create 69.14 (1) (h) 2. of the statutes; Relating to: registration of births by surrogate mother.

Summary

SB888 would change Wisconsin’s birth-record and parentage procedures for children born through surrogacy. Under current law, when a child is born to a surrogate mother, the birth record must list information about the surrogate mother and omit information about the father; if a court later determines parental rights, the state registrar must create a new birth record and the original record is destroyed. The bill keeps that basic framework but adds a new restriction on when a court may determine parental rights. Specifically, the bill provides that, unless the matter is handled through an adoption proceeding, a court may not determine parental rights over a child born to a surrogate mother unless at least one person petitioning for paternal rights is biologically related to the child. In practice, this would limit court-ordered parentage determinations in surrogacy cases to situations involving a biological connection, while preserving the existing process for amending birth records after a valid court determination.

Impact

The bill would amend Wisconsin Statutes section 69.14(1)(h) by renumbering the existing surrogacy birth-record provision and adding a new subsection that restricts judicial parentage determinations in surrogacy cases. It would affect the Department of Health Services/state registrar and local registrars by leaving the birth-record correction process in place, but only after a court determination that meets the new biological-relationship requirement or occurs through adoption. The practical effect is to narrow who can obtain a court order establishing parental rights for a child born via surrogacy, which could affect intended parents, surrogate arrangements, family law proceedings, and birth certificate issuance.

Sentiment

The available record shows little direct debate or recorded vote detail, so overall sentiment cannot be measured from committee testimony. Based on the bill’s content and its introduction by a sponsor with cosponsors, the measure appears to have been advanced as a policy change rather than a technical cleanup. Its final status indicates it failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1, suggesting it did not gain enough legislative support to become law.

Contention

The main point of contention is the bill’s biological-relationship requirement for court determinations of parental rights in surrogacy cases. Supporters would likely view the change as a way to ensure a genetic connection before parentage is judicially recognized outside adoption, while opponents would likely argue it restricts intended parents in surrogacy arrangements, especially non-biological parents, and could complicate family formation and parentage recognition. The bill also preserves an adoption exception, which may be significant for parties seeking parentage through that route.