HB1870 Summary

• Amends Arkansas Code § 9-10-110 to require biological fathers found by court to pay 50% of pregnancy and childbirth expenses, including health insurance premiums and medical costs from conception until pregnancy ends, including miscarriage or stillbirth costs.

• Court may reduce the biological father's obligation based on equitable consideration of circumstances, and expenses already paid by the mother or father reduce their respective 50% shares.

• Biological fathers are exempt from paying pregnancy and childbirth expenses if the mother obtains an abortion without his consent (except in cases of medical necessity, rape, or incest) or if the claim is filed more than 5 years after the child's birth, miscarriage, or stillbirth.

• Bills and invoices for pregnancy, childbirth, and paternity testing expenses are admissible as evidence without third-party testimony if regular on their face and constitute prima facie evidence of amounts incurred.

• Section does not apply if expenses were previously apportioned in a child support, custody, or visitation order, or in cases involving in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination where the donor did not intend to have parental rights.