TRENTON — Infertile women who adopt newborns conceived with their husband's sperm but carried by a surrogate mother could be identified on the birth certificate almost immediately under a bill approved by an Assembly panel Thursday.

The measure (A2646) addresses years of legislative silence on the advancements in assisted reproductive technology, which have left the state and intended parents to battle over the issue in court.

"It reflects a recurring theme that we often deal with as legislators — updating the law to meet the challenges and opportunities posed by new technology," Assemblywoman Valerie Vanieri Huttle (D-Bergen), a sponsor of the bill, said.

The bill was approved 5-1 by the Assembly Human Services Committee along party lines, with Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Monmouth) casting the only vote against it. A companion measure is currently before the Senate Health Committee.

Under the current law, a child conceived with an anonymous donor egg and a husband’s sperm but carried by a surrogate is considered the child of the husband, but not of the wife. The law requires the wife to adopt the child after birth, which is costly and can take at least six months.

Lawyers have contended if the mother dies during that time, the child would be subject to inheritance taxes or get shut out of important financial benefits. If the husband dies during the waiting period, the intended mother would have no legal claim to the child, who could then be raised by her in-laws.

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In the absence of a law clarifying adoptions in these instances, courts have devised their own remedies, which vary among counties. One solution is a contract between the surrogate and the intended parents to place the couple’s names on a birth certificate up to 72 hours after the child’s birth, allowing the surrogate time to change her mind about giving up the baby.

But sometimes judges accept those contracts and sometimes they don’t.

"The problem is, there’s no certainty in New Jersey," said Donald Cofsky, an adoption attorney and advocate who represents a couple seeking the legislation.

The bill would codify some of the current solutions such as allowing the intended parents to be identified on the birth certificate immediately after the 72-hour waiting period.

The last time New Jersey had to have the law catch up with advancements in reproductive technology was 1988, when the Baby M case defined the legal relationship between a surrogate using her own egg and a husband who used his sperm to conceive a child. But that case involved artificial insemination, not in vitro fertilization — the latest advancement.

"This was never envisioned in 1988. Nobody thought about this as happening,’’ said Cofsky, who argued a case on this topic before the state Supreme Court last week. "Today, in vitro fertilization is routine — it’s expensive but it’s routine. And using gestational carriers has become routine."

John Tomicki, head of the League of American Families, said the legislation could touch on the question of abortion, but Huttle disagreed, saying said it only addressed contracts with surrogates.

Tomicki, an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage, asked the committee to hold the bill or at least restrict in vitro fertilization to married couples.

"Human life begins at conception," he said. "Science may take us down a road that we should not go."