{
  "code": "US-PA",
  "name": "Pennsylvania",
  "last_reviewed": "2026-07",
  "confidence": "medium",
  "black_letter": "Pennsylvania lacks a single clean UPA-2017-style informal donor non-parentage statute covering all known-donor AI fact patterns. Court precedent and fact-specific parentage analysis dominate; map coding uses Court-Precedent. Clinic pathways, adoption, and parentage orders reduce risk relative to pure informal NI or undocumented AI.",
  "ai_informal": "court_precedent",
  "ni": "not_recognized",
  "physician_or_clinic_for_safe_harbor": "often",
  "agreement_effect": "evidence_only",
  "key_citations": [
    {
      "label": "23 Pa.C.S. portal",
      "url": "https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=23"
    },
    {
      "label": "Ferguson v. McKiernan, 596 Pa. 78, 940 A.2d 1236 (2007)",
      "url": "https://www.pacourts.us/",
      "quote": "We are called upon to determine whether a sperm donor involved in a private sperm donation\u2014i.e., one that occurs outside the context of an institutional sperm bank\u2014effected through clinical rather than sexual means may be held liable for child support, notwithstanding the formation of an agreement between the donor and the donee that she will not hold the donor responsible for supporting the child that results from the arrangement. \u2026 [W]e disagree with the lower courts that the agreement in question is unenforceable. Accordingly, we reverse."
    }
  ],
  "emerging_law_note": "Where public materials are thin, \u201cUnknown\u201d means no clear published safe harbor for informal arrangements\u2014not that private donation is criminal. Further clarity often requires litigation or legislation.",
  "page": "/Pages/US/PA/pa.html",
  "region_group": "US",
  "status_badges": {
    "AI-Single": "Court-Precedent",
    "AI-Married": "Court-Precedent",
    "NI": "Banned",
    "Contract": "Unknown"
  }
}