Month: April 2018

Parental rights, Same Sex

Guess This Week’s Craziest State In Assisted Reproductive Technology Law: Mississippi Or Arizona?

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

Did you guess Mississippi? Wrong. Your assumptions about the Magnolia State notwithstanding, last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a strong, well-reasoned opinion that reversed a lower court decision that would have created trouble for hopeful parents in Mississippi. The lower court had ruled that an anonymous sperm donor was in fact the legal parent of a child, even though that would have meant displacing one of the women (of a same-sex female couple) who had raised him. Yay, Mississippi! A victory for both families and LGBT individuals.

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breastfeeding, India, Surrogacy, surrogate children

What about breast feeding for children born of surrogacy? : Sonali Kusum

Intended Parents

Source Healthworld

The Surrogacy Bill 2016 and the recent Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights ( MSCPCR) is silent on the fundamental right of child, that every infant including surrogate child born of surrogacy has right to breast feeding or similar substitutes in the interest of early growth, survival and development of child.

The Surrogacy Bill 2016 and the recent Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights ( MSCPCR) is silent on the fundamental right of child, that every infant including surrogate child born of surrogacy has right to breast feeding or similar substitutes in the interest of early growth, survival and development of child. The MSCPCR issued guidelines this month on regulation of surrogacy for protection of interest of child born of surrogacy, the surrogate mother and to check any malpractices but the commission guidelines does not address the same. Considering the commission is a specialized body constituted under CPCR Act 2005 with the specific mandate to promote the best interest of child through its recommendations following review of existing legislations, policy, such oversight by commission is a glaring omission.

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Embryo Freezing, Malta

Malta – Embryo freezing will be linked to adoption

Intended Parents

Source Malta Today

Embryo freezing and gamete donation are included in the changes being proposed by the government for the Embryo Protection Act • The first reading of the Bill will be held tonight

Changes to the law regulating in-vitro fertilisation will allow embryo freezing on condition that prospective parents agree to give up unclaimed embryos for adoption, MaltaToday has learnt.

Prospective parents will be issued with a ‘permit’ by the regulator to have their embryos frozen, which can then be extended every five years until the woman is 43.

Sources said this will give the couple ample time to use any frozen embryos but if they decide not to extend the permit, or the woman reaches 43, the Embryo Protection Authority will be able to give the embryos up for adoption.

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Embryo Freezing, Malta, Surrogacy

Malta – New bill will make IVF available to same-sex couples and single women, allow voluntary surrogacy

Intended Parents

Source Times of Malta

The introduction of embryo freezing and adoption, access to IVF for same-sex couples and single persons, as well as a public consultation on surrogacy are the highlights of a new IVF bill presented this afternoon, by Health Minister Chris Fearne.

Addressing a news conference at Parliament, the deputy prime minister said the bill had been unanimously approved by the Labour Party.
He said that until the final few months of the Gonzi administration in 2012, there was no regulation of IVF.

“The 2012 law was a good move, but time is ripe to move further ahead,” he said.
He explained that between 18 to 20 per cent of couples faced infertility problems.

Under this bill IVF will be also be offered to same sex couples as well as single women.

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frozen embryos, Grandparents

Baby boy born four years after parents died in road accident

Intended Parents

Source ZeeNews

A baby boy was recently born through surrogacy in China – four years after his parents had died in a fatal road accident. The child’s grandparents reportedly fought a lenghty legal battle to get the four fertilised embryos the couple had left at a local hospital.

The Beijing News reported that a surrogate mother from Laos gave birth to the baby – four years after Shen Jie and Liu Xi died in a road accident in Yixing in China’s Jiangsu Province. The couple had been undergoing fertility treatment before they met with the accident.

There has been no precedent of parents of a deceased person inheriting the embryos of their child/children. In the case of Jie and Xi, their parents had to file two lawsuits in order to get the fertilised embryos in a case that made headlines in the Chinese media.

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Embryo adoption

Woman Gives Birth To ‘Teenage’ Baby Girl After Using Donated Embryo, The ‘Daily Mail’ Reports

Intended Parents

Source Inquisitr

A couple in Georgia has given birth to a ‘teenage’ baby after discovering the process of embryo adoption, according to Daily Mail. Nancy and Chris Weiss reportedly spent two years trying to conceive before the birth of their daughter, Luna, three months ago. The Daily Mailreports that the couple has been trying for a child for six months before considering IVF. Five failed attempts at IVF they discovered embryo adoption, where a frozen embryo from a successful couple is fertilized and implanted.

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Gay Parenting, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

UK – ‘I wanted to give people the joy I have with my kids’: Selfless mother, 29, who was a surrogate for a same-sex couple, donates eggs to help childless people to become parents

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

A 29-year-old mother has spoken candidly about her gracious decision to help couples struggling to conceive by donating her eggs.

Cassie Lake, from Tinonee on the Mid North Coast of NSW, wanted to share the joys of parenthood after having a family of her own.

And so she started helping childless families by donating her eggs, and eventually, she went on to become a surrogate for a same-sex couple.
The idea to donate her eggs sprung into mind after she tragically suffered a miscarriage with her fourth baby at 10 weeks pregnant in 2015.

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Gay Parenting, Surrogacy

Julie Bindel: Gay men who use surrogacy: “Narcissistic, rich, racist, entitled pricks”

Intended Parents

Source The Gay UK

Julie Bindel, who writes for the Guardian, and New Statesman has hit out at gay men who use surrogacy to have their own, biological child. The columnist was commenting on an April Fool’s Joke about surrogacy by German LGBT+ website Queer.de.

The article, which has been apologised for, was a competition to give away an egg donation and to pay for the services of a surrogate mother in Bangkok worth €36,000.

Bindel has often spoken out about gay men using surrogate mothers in order to have children. In her latest social media outburst, she appeared to call gay men “Narcissistic, rich, racist, entitled pricks”.

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Sperm Donors Wanted, New Zealand

New Zealand – Urgent calls for Kiwi sperm donors as women forced to wait two years for chance to start a family

Intended Parents

Source News Now

Aucklands Fertility Assosiates currently have 460 women in need of donors who face around a two years wait for the chance to start a family.

Fertility Assosiates, Mary Birdsall told 1 NEWS: “The average person would wait two years for us to offer them a sperm donor and that’s really hard if you’re already 38.

“Your chances when you come to the top of our waiting list have got less.”

Experts say that the banning of anonymous sperm donations has discouraged some and are now pushing for more compensation to attract men.

“We’d like to see them compensated a little bit more, not to the point where it’s a money making exercise, but just to reflect that it does take time out of their day,” Juanita Copeland Fertility NZ said.

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posthumous conception, Ireland

Ireland – Posthumous conception raises ‘host of ethical issues’

Intended Parents

Source Baptist Press

In Ireland, legislation is under consideration that would permit reproductive cells from deceased individuals to be used by their spouses or partners to conceive children posthumously, according to media reports. The Irish legislature’s Joint Committee on Health discussed the bill once in January and again in February, a spokesperson for the legislature told Baptist Press. A final bill could be drafted in the coming months and put before parliament for debate.

Health Committee chairman Michael Harty said in a news release, “Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) is becoming increasingly important in Ireland and measures must be put in place to protect parents, donors, surrogates and crucially, the children born through AHR.”

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China, Sperm Donor

Chinese sperm bank: Donors must ‘love socialist motherland’

Intended Parents

Source MassLive

If you want to donate sperm at one Chinese hospital, get ready to pledge support to the Communist Party.
According to the BBC, quoting various media sources, a statement Wednesday on a since deleted website of Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing, said donors to its sperm bank must “love the socialist motherland.”
This was translated to mean “support the leadership of the Communist Party, be loyal to the party’s cause and be decent, law-abiding citizens, free of political problems.”

U.S. sperm banks ask many non-genetic based questions of donors, such as hobbies and goals, but party affiliation may be a first one for such screening anywhere.

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Gay Parenting, Same Sex, Surrogate Mother

UK – Devon couple reveal what it’s like to have a child via a surrogate as they await birth of son

Intended Parents

Source Devon Line

Surrogate dads Ben, right, and Darren Tudor-Green from Torquay

Awaiting the arrival of your first child is an anxious time for any parent but even more so for Darren and Ben Tudor-Green because their baby boy is being born via a surrogate.
Yesterday she began being induced so the couple have had to travel from their home in Torquay to Yorkshire where their 23-year-old surrogate lives. This afternoon, Sunday, she was in active labour.

Darren, a health care assistant, has spoken to DevonLive about the highs and lows of their surrogacy journey so far, and has given a revealing insight into what awaits fellow Devon surrogate gay dad-to-be Tom Daley.

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Same Sex, Sperm Donor Rights

Mississippi court overturns decision recognizing sperm donor in lesbian child-custody case

Intended Parents

Source Think Progress

The Mississippi Supreme Court has recognized the parental rights of both moms in a separated lesbian couple. While several other states have resolved similar issues raised by marriages that were not originally recognized, the Mississippi case instead reflected a concern about whether an anonymous sperm donor should be recognized as a parent.

Chris Strickland and Kimberly Jayroe Strickland Day married in 2009 in Massachusetts, and in 2011, Day gave birth to their son, Z.S., in Mississippi. Because their marriage was not recognized at the time, Strickland was not listed on her son’s birth certificate. The couple separated in 2013, but only formally divorced in 2016, after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in favor of marriage equality nationwide.

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Canada, Doctor using own sperm

Dozens sue Canadian fertility doctor for ‘using wrong sperm’

Intended Parents

Source BBC

A Canadian fertility doctor is being sued by dozens of people who claim he used his own or unknown sperm to impregnate their mothers.

In November Dr Norman Barwin was sued after a DNA test said he was the father a former patient’s daughter.
At least 11 others now claim he is their biological father, lawyers say.

The group filed a class-action lawsuit with about 50 offspring of former patients whose DNA does not match their intended biological father.

The claims go as far back as the 1970s, and include patients from at least two fertility clinics in Ottawa, Ontario – Broadview Fertility Clinic and Ottawa General Hospital.

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Canada, Surrogacy Law

Canada – Fertility Advisors Continues Advocacy With Third Day on Parliament Hill

Intended Parents

Source Digital Journal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s time for society to study the issue of decriminalizing payment for surrogate mothers and sperm or egg donors. (Radio-Canada)

“I think this is something we need to be thinking about as a society, and when we see the bill I know we will be having a discussion about rights and responsibilities that we share as a society,” Trudeau said. “And we will try to see how we can move forward in a reasonable manner.”

Trudeau was referencing a planned private member’s bill being put forward by Liberal MP Anthony Housefather. The bill, which Housefather plans to table in May, would decriminalize payments for surrogate moms and sperm or egg donors.

Canadians from every demographic and economic group could require a surrogate and/or gamete donor to build their family. Every Canadian should have the right and ability to have a family without fear of legal prosecution. This means that just to give one example, to even send flowers to a surrogate could expose intended parents (IPs) and agency staff to criminal liability and penalties. Expenses meant to cover costs directly related to the pregnancy are a grey area, and currently, any perceived breach could result in the conviction of an indictable offense with a fine of up to $500,000, a jail sentence of up to 10 years, or both.

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Doctor using own sperm

Canada – Couple angry wrong donor sperm used at Ottawa clinic

Intended Parents

Source cbc.ca

Former Ottawa fertility doctor Norman Barwin faces a potential class-action lawsuit over allegations he inseminated women with his own sperm.

A lesbian Toronto couple who conceived a child with the help of an Ottawa fertility specialist is angry and saddened after DNA testing proved their daughter was not conceived from the anonymous donor they chose.

Dr. Norman Barwin is alleged in a class action to have used his own sperm or the wrong sperm without the knowledge or consent of the people who came to him for insemination treatments.

The class action, which has yet to be certified by a judge, initially claimed Barwin had inseminated two women with his own sperm, but has been amended to include more complainants, according to a news release from the law firm issued Thursday.

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Doctor using own sperm

Did this Idaho OB/GYN secretly use his own sperm to get a patient pregnant?

Intended Parents

Source Idaho Statesman

A doctor in Eastern Idaho is accused of secretly using his own sperm to fertilize a patient in 1980. Almost 40 years later, the baby is a grown woman who says she just learned the truth from a mail-in DNA test.

She and her parents are suing the doctor, who is now retired. The lawsuit says:

Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler were having trouble conceiving in 1979. They went to Dr. Gerald Mortimer, who ran an OB/GYN practice in Idaho Falls, looking for help.
The problem, Mortimer told them, was that Ashby had a tipped uterus and Fowler’s sperm count and motility were low.

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Canada, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law

Trudeau says it’s time for Canada to debate decriminalizing fees for surrogate moms

Intended Parents

Source CBC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s time for society to study the issue of decriminalizing payment for surrogate mothers and sperm or egg donors. (Radio-Canada)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s time for Canadian society to wrestle with the controversial issue of paying women to carry other people’s babies.

Calling paid surrogacy an “extremely important issue” that affects many prospective parents, including same-sex and infertile couples, Trudeau said today he expects the debate will draw extreme opinions and emotions.

The government, he said, wants to listen and show respect for all views to “move forward appropriately.”

“I think this is something we need to be thinking about as a society, and when we see the bill I know we will be having a discussion about rights and responsibilities that we share as a society,” he said. “And we will try to see how we can move forward in a reasonable manner.”

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egg donor children, Same Sex, Sperm Donor Children, surrogate children

How To Answer The Question ‘Mum, Mama…. Where Did I Come From?’

Intended Parents

Source QNews Magazine

“Won’t someone think of the children?” cried the far right during the recent plebiscite, where the nation was invited to vote on the validity of our families.
One of the biggest cannons aimed against marriage equality was the idea that our relationships — and conception! — couldn’t be discussed with children.

I can’t speak for the rest of my allies in the LGBTIQ community, but I have been thinking of the children for a long time. Not only have I spent my career in the classroom, educating children, I have longed for a family of my own since I can remember.

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Doctor using own sperm

Idaho Falls doctor artificially impregnated patient with his own semen, lawsuit claims

Intended Parents

Source East Idaho News

IDAHO FALLS — A retired Idaho Falls gynecologist is being sued for allegedly inseminating a woman and fathering her child more than 30 years ago.

Dr. Gerald E. Mortimer and his former employer, Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls, have been accused of medical negligence, battery, fraud and breach of contract. The case against them was filed in Idaho federal court on Friday.

The civil suit was filed by Kelli Rowlette, a Washington resident, and her divorced parents Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler.
The accusations came to light after the 36-year-old Rowlette received an unexpected result from a DNA test sent to Ancestry.com in July 2017. If users opt in, Ancestry.com can link them to others with similar DNA.

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