Month: May 2018

Parental rights, UK

UK – Surrogacy reform could remove automatic rights from birth parents

Intended Parents

Source The Telegraph

The current law means intended parents must apply for a court order to gain legal rights over the child. CREDIT: DOMINIC LIPINSKI /PA

Surrogacy laws could be reformed to remove automatic rights from birth parents, under plans being examined by the Government.

Law Commission recommendations to reform surrogacy law have received Government backing and will be developed to make the rules “fit for the modern world”.

A three-year project will examine the current rules which give a woman and her husband automatic parentage over any child she gives birth to, even if the child is not biologically theirs.

It will “consider the legal parentage of children born via surrogacy, and the regulation of surrogacy more widely,” the Law Commission said.

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Canada, Doctor using own sperm

Canada – Barwin’s babies: The remarkable story of a disgraced Ottawa fertility doctor and those who say they are his children

Intended Parents

Source Ottawa Citizen

Kat Palmer always knew she was a Barwin baby.

It was a matter of pride in her family that Dr. Norman Barwin, Ottawa’s renowned fertility doctor and baby whisperer, had helped her parents conceive after years of trying.

As members of Ottawa’s tight-knit Jewish community, they sometimes ran into the doctor at events while she was growing up.

“My parents were so grateful to this man. My dad would bring me over and say: ‘We are so thankful to him because he gave us you.’”

Those words hang in the air as Palmer says them today. They have new meaning now.

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Canada, Doctor using own sperm

Canada – Editorial: A lawsuit over sperm

Intended Parents

Source Ottawa Citizen

Imagine finding out that your father isn’t really your biological parent. That’s the reality more than two dozen people have struggled with because of alleged mismatched sperm donations at the Ottawa fertility clinic once run by Dr. Norman Barwin.

The parents of these people went to Barwin for treatments to help them conceive using the male partner’s sperm. Instead, Barwin himself is thought to have provided the sperm that led to 11 pregnancies – without the couples in question knowing this. In another 16 cases, the family can’t identify the sperm donor at all.

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regulation

Canada – ‘Multibillion-dollar industry with almost no oversight’: Tougher fertility regulations on the way

Intended Parents

Source Ottawa Citizen

Could tougher regulations around the use and handling of donor sperm have prevented the fallout devastating former clients of Dr. Norman Barwin’s Broadview Fertility Clinic?

It is difficult to say, but at the very least tighter rules might have limited the damage. And they are badly needed in Canada, experts in the field argue.

In fact, a series of standards developed by the Canadian Standards Association, which would tighten rules around sperm and egg banks, have been accepted by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, which regulates doctors in the province, and are soon expected to be in place.

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India, Infertility

India – Infertility and the related worries

Intended Parents

Source The Hans India

Nowadays, infertility is on a rise in both men and women. Studies say that one out of every seven couples in the world is unable to have a child. Dr Shruti Malvi, Director of Kbpn Malvi Hospital in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, has been extensively working on the problem of infertility. She gives us an insight into the world of infertility and the myths behind it.

The processes of ovulation and fertilisation need to happen correctly to get pregnant. Sometimes the issues that cause infertility in couples are present at birth, and sometimes they develop later in life. Dr Shruti defines Infertility as the failure to achieve clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse

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Europe, IVF

5 facts about IVF parenting in Europe – what you need to know

Intended Parents

Source DW

A German man was forced to pay child support for a son he never agreed to have after his ex-wife used his sperm samples for IVF treatment. European laws on who are parents have been slow to adapt to changing societies.

1. Who is the parent? A child can only have two parents in European countries. Those whose names appear on the birth certificate have parental responsibility. The birth mother is always the legal mother and the other legal parent is her spouse or civil partner or possibly the biological father. If the parents are married, both are registered as parents.

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New Zealand, Two mothers on birth certificate

New Zealand – First for NZ: Couple both listed as ‘mother’ on child’s birth certificate

Intended Parents

Source News Talk ZB

Nelson-Tasman region couple Stacy and Jess conceived Evie using donor sperm and IVF. (Photo / Nelson Weekly)

For the first time in New Zealand two women can be named on a child’s birth certificate as “mother” for children conceived using assisted reproductive techniques.

Jess and Stacy complained to the Human Rights Commission, who raised it with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).

The women both wanted to named as mother on their daughter Evie’s birth certificate.

The lawyer who advocated for the “massive” change said it could affect more than 1000 children.

Solicitor and barrister Stewart Dalley, at Ryken and Associates, took on the case on a pro bono basis, after reading of their plight in the Herald last year.

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LGBTQ Parental Rights

Lesbian Mom Secures Parental Rights In Illinois—But The Fight Goes On In Other States

Intended Parents

Source INTO

Ashlie Judd was listed as the parent on her daughter’s birth certificate, but it took a court ruling to establish her parental rights.

Late last week, an Illinois appeals court ruled in her favor, affirming the rights of both hers and other same-sex non-biological parents in the state.

The case dates back to 2014 when Judd and her ex-wife Dee Baron-Judd brought a daughter into their family. According to court documents, the couple selected a sperm donor together who would reflect Judd’s physical appearance, jointly paid for fertility treatments, held a baby shower together, and welcomed their daughter in the hospital. (Baron-Judd is the biological mother.)

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DNA Test

Ancestry report has changed 2 St. Louisans lives

Intended Parents

Source KPLR11

ST. LOUIS – The latest trend of researching your heritage on DNA testing websites is revealing some stunning surprises and not all of them are good.

Privacy issues are becoming an issue. For example, sperm donors may no longer be anonymous and parents who give their child up for adoption are being found whether they like it or not.

Fox 2 spoke with a man who didn’t want to be identified but recently learned he was a sperm donor baby. His parents never told him. He received an ancestry.com test kit as a gift.

When he got the results, it showed he had half-siblings. He thought he was an only child.

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LGBTQ Parental Rights

Italy – Italy Takes A Grande Step Forward For LGBT Parental Rights

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

An exciting first: a same-sex female couple was permitted to register their donor-conceived son to both women as parents.

Although Italy may be the international capital for art, it isn’t anywhere close to being the international capital for ART law. That is, assisted reproductive technology (ART). Use of assisted reproductive technology like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy is highly regulated, and it is reserved only for those in “stable heterosexual relationships.” I’m not sure many of us, regardless of sexual orientation, can confidently claim that status.

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Donor Sperm Selection

Donor, Not Dad

Intended Parents

Source The Keene Sentinel

When people learn that my wife and I have two children, I’m often asked: “Do they know who their dad is?”

Then I assure them that our children don’t have a dad – they have two moms. And I explain that we used a sperm bank to choose anonymous donors.

Initially, the donor search was exciting. There were thousands of profiles to sift through, screened by a variety of factors including physical characteristics, ancestry, health history and educational background

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male infertility,

Ireland – ‘I do believe I’ll be a dad some day’ – Three Irish men reveal the heartbreak of fertility struggles

Intended Parents

Source Irish Independent News

Fertility has long been considered a female problem, but with sperm counts under threat, it’s time to realise that men have ticking clocks too. Chrissie Russell reports

Happy families resemble each other, and to anyone, Paul (33), his wife Kristel (32) and their 18-month-old daughter Zoe look like any other young, happy family. Looking on, you’d never know the battle that brought them to this point in their lives.

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Fertility over 40

Australia – Everything You Need To Know About Fertility In Your 40s

Intended Parents

Source Australian Women’s Health

With the average age of new mothers increasing, many couples are waiting longer to start their family. Unfortunately, one of the consequence of delaying pregnancy until later in life is that age is the most important factor when it comes to conceiving.

Quite simply, women are less likely to conceive in their 40s because they don’t produce eggs with the potential to make babies as often as women do in their 20 and 30s. In fact, on average women aged 40-43 will produce just one egg a year with the ability to make a baby.

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Child from egg donation finds donor

Southern California woman donates eggs in college, meets ‘egg’ almost 2 decades later

Intended Parents

Source Fox 35

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTVU) – A USC college student armed with only a few clues – including a grainy photo of a woman posing in a pool – was able to track down the woman responsible for giving her life.

Elizabeth Gaba had known she was born via egg donation and surrogacy her entire life. When she turned 18, she was given access to her file.
The file was scant when it came to details. Gaba learned the woman who donated eggs had a first name of Amy, was born in 1977, and was a straight A music student at USC.

Gaba, a student at USC’s Thornton School of Music’s pop program, was amazed to learn her egg donor also went to USC. But the similarities didn’t stop there.
Through some online sleuthing, Gaba, along with the help of her manager Amanda Newman of Varsity Vocals, identified her egg donor as Amy Throckmorton of Escondido.

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Law

Commercial Surrogacy on Path to Legalization in NJ, NY, but Some Donor-Conceived Adults Oppose the Laws

Intended Parents

Source Christian Post

Two populous states are on the path to legalizing commercial surrogacy, a move that’s drawing intense criticism from bioethicists, egg donors, donor-conceived children and pro-life advocates.

Legislation permitting the practice is being considered in New York and New Jersey, and the New Jersey bill, known as bill S482, which recently passed through both houses of the state legislature, is sitting on the desk of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

New Jersey Right to Life is actively opposing the proposed legislation. If Murphy does not sign, veto or conditionally veto it by May 28, it will become law.

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Doctor using own sperm

Canada – Wrongful impregnation of patients with fertility doctors’ own sperm raises novel criminal law questions, experts say

Intended Parents

Source The Lawyers Daily

What crime (if any) does a fertility doctor commit when he hijacks his patient’s body, including her genes, by secretly using his own sperm to impregnate her? It’s a cutting-edge — but far from clear-cut — criminal law question that arises from the misconduct of some infertility doctors prosecuted in the U.S. and in Europe who, unbeknownst to their patients, surreptitiously substituted their own sperm for that authorized by the women — and thereby produced dozens of babies who were later discovered to be the doctors’ own offspring.

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Infertility, Jamaica

Jamaica – Laws Of Eve | Legislation Is Urgently Needed To Deal With IVF

Intended Parents

Source The Gleaner

As the number of cases involving assisted reproductive technology continues to multiply across the world, and even as some of that same technology is being utilised with increased frequency in Jamaica, we still have no legislation that deals with any aspect of it.

In my legal practice, I have been consulted by clients who have trouble conceiving and are undergoing fertility treatment, including the harvesting and storage of eggs, sperm, and embryos, surrogacy agreements and artificial insemination. In all cases, I am asked to explain the legal position in Jamaica, which begins with the admission that it is uncertain.

Many of the questions surround the ultimate ownership of the embryos in the event the couple separates after undergoing treatment, the legal recourse that is available if the surrogate changes her mind and refuses to hand over the child after delivery, whether the surrogate can be paid and how to prevent a sperm donor from claiming paternal rights in relation to a child conceived through artificial insemination.

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Parents over 60

UK – Couple aged 63 and 65 become Britain’s oldest parents using surrogate mother – only to have the child taken away by social services just one year later 

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

A couple who have become Britain’s oldest parents through use of a surrogate mother at the ages of 63 and 65 are left ‘devastated’ after their baby was taken away by social services.

The parents’ age is reportedly thought to be a factor in concerns over their one-year-old’s well-being.

Social services first spoke with the couple, who are from the north of England, last year and warned them that they had to make improvements to how their child was being cared for.

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children from egg and/or sperm donor, IVF, Malta

Malta – IVF law: woman born of anonymous donor conception views concession on medical history as ‘token’

Intended Parents

Source Independent

A woman born by anonymous donor conception, Dr Joanna Rose, views the Maltese government’s offer to allow those born through the same practice to have access to their genetic parent’s medical history as more of a “token”.

Rose is an activist who works to highlight the plight of those born by anonymous donor conception, resulting in identity issues and medical issues as a result of having incomplete access to the genetic family’s medical history.

Born in the UK, Rose went to university and after she graduated, she was awarded a scholarship to get her PhD on the subject.

Anonymous donor conception is when sperm and/or eggs are donated to an infertile woman seeking to become pregnant through IVF. Parliament is set to discuss amendments to the 2012 Embryo Protection Act which would introduce embryo freezing and tie it to anonymous embryo adoption.

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Australia, Single women, Sperm Donor

Australia – WA single mums’ search for the right donor

Intended Parents

Source Perth Now

MORE WA women are seeking to become “single mothers by choice” by using sperm donors, with the wait list at one fertility clinic doubling in 12 months.

A nationwide sperm shortage and increased demand for donor-assisted conception have extended wait lists at Perth fertility clinics, and hundreds of women are instead seeking sperm donors through Facebook.

PIVET Medical Centre’s wait list for donor-assisted conception has doubled in 12 months.

Donor co-ordinator Anne Wigham said more women were aware of their fertility limitations and were making the decision to have a child rather than wait for a partner.

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