Louisiana Lawmakers Revive Debate Overy Surrogacy Births

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lawmakers aren't giving up on efforts to create a regulatory framework for surrogacy births in Louisiana, even though Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected the bill last year.

Surrogacy is the arrangement when a woman carries a child to birth for another person.

Louisiana law currently has few regulations governing surrogacy.

Supporters of the bill say surrogacy births are taking place without clear guidelines on the legal rights of the parents, the surrogate or the child.

Jindal sided with religious groups that raised ethical and moral concerns in vetoing the measure last year.

Republican Rep. Joe Lopinto and Democratic Sen. Gary Smith are back again this session with the bill, which gets its first House committee hearing Tuesday.

Without changes, however, Jindal says he'll veto the bill again if it passes.