"It would be easier to say what the bill doesn't do," said the Logan Republican, summarizing major provisions that set new legal standards for claiming parental rights in adoption and child custody battles.

But senators paid little heed to those changes, endorsing the sweeping 48-page measure, 24-0, after some hand-wringing over whether it does too much or too little to restrict surrogacy arrangements. Assuming the Senate grants final approval later this week - which is likely - Senate Bill 14 will head next to a House committee where it is bound to meet resistance.

The bill addresses an emotionally volatile subject in a "sensitive way," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. But the makeup of the House, which killed the measure last year, "hasn't changed much and that doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence."

Shades of the coming debate surfaced Tuesday as one Democrat questioned the wisdom of locking out single and gay parents and a Republican wondered if the bill would ease state restrictions on abortion.

"Did I hear you say this bill authorizes abortion on demand?" asked Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, speaking of a provision that would allow a surrogate to terminate a pregnancy to safeguard her health and that of the baby.

Hillyard promised nothing in the bill would circumvent existing state law. SB 14 provides that guidelines for the handling of such ethical and moral decisions be outlined in a court-approved contract. Under such contracts, a surrogate would have to relinquish all rights to the child and the parents to assume all responsibility.

"The parents can't back out of the agreement and say, 'This baby is handicapped, I don't want it,' " said Hillyard. "If you're going to be instrumental in creating a life, not only are there blessings, but responsibilities."

The state's fertility experts, some judges and the national Organization of Parents through Surrogacy say the bill is long overdue. But other groups, such as the Utah Adoption Council, fear Ïbecause it legalizes "reasonable" payment to a surrogate, it promotes "baby-selling."

In Utah, it's a class B misdemeanor to contract with a woman to carry a child for profit. The law is silent on surrogacy agreements that don't involve money, but Utah courts don't recognize them.

Under SB14, childless couples who show medical proof of infertility and arrange to have babies via a gestational surrogate would be considered the legal parents. Under existing law, the parents must adopt the baby after birth.

But the legislation excludes single and gay parents, a tactic criticized by Sen. Patrice Arent, D-Murray, pleading the case of a female constituent who had a baby through surrogacy created with her eggs and her husband's sperm. The couple froze leftover embryos, hoping to provide their child with a sibling. But the father died.

"She is now a single mother," said Arent. "I wonder if we want to exclude someone like this."

The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has warned that treating single and gay people differently under the eyes of the law runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution's equal protections clause.

But Hillyard said he won't be cowed by the ACLU. "Anything is potentially unconstitutional. Maybe I'm doing something right, because I have groups on either side saying I go too far or don't go far enough."

kstewart@sltrib.com

Uniform Parentage Act

Sen. Lyle Hillyard's bill is based on a model law written by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Surrogacy provisions are included in the 2002 version; only Texas and Washington state have adopted them. Aside from legalizing gestational surrogacy agreements, major provisions of the bill:

* Expand the instances in which a man is legally presumed to be a father if a child is born after his marriage ends, or if he marries the mother before/after the birth.

* Establish circumstances in which genetic testing can be used to determine or dispute parentage in court.

* Require judges to look to Utah law when determining parent-child relationships, regardless of where the child was born or formerly resided.

* Ensure egg and sperm donors aren't considered parents, but a husband who consents to assisted reproduction used on his wife is

* Require the Office of Vital Records to centrally register all declarations of paternity, judicial and administrative determinations of paternity, and notices of proceedings to establish paternity.

* Outline how denials of paternity are to be filed and in what time frame.