frozen embryos, UK

UK – Frozen embryo pregnancy boost

Source Express

A fertility clinic has become the first in the UK to routinely freeze embryos – to give women more than a 50 percent chance of falling pregnant. Scientists at Cambridge IVF found the technique allowed them to transfer the embryos at the best time for the patient.

It also eliminates some of the side effects of IVF drugs, including weight gain, abdominal pain, vomiting and shortness of breath.

The clinic, which works with Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, achieved a 61.8 per cent success rate for a group of 167 women between the age of 24 and 45 compared with 40.6 per cent when using fresh embryos.

The figure is nearly double the national average of 36 per cent for using fresh embryos, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

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South Africa, Surrogacy

South Africa – Everything you need to know about surrogacy in SA

Source Destiny Connect

You may be considering a surrogate for different medical reasons, or it could be because you’ve been struggling to fall pregnant through assisted reproduction techniques like IVF.

Surrogacy gives people who might be ineligible to adopt a child because of their age or because they’re single and same-sex couples a shot at parenthood.

It might not be as prevalent as it is in the USA, but more South Africans are making enquiries and engaging with the practice more and more.

The legislation that governs surrogacy in the country, the Children’s Act, is, however, very strict and clear about what is permissible.

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Fertility

Understanding your fertility is a nightmare. Here’s a better way

Source Fast Company

Trying to get pregnant on your own feels a bit like being shot into space. You’re looking for anything familiar to grasp, but you’re surrounded by alien terminology–all while being poked and prodded by foreign objects and unfamiliar faces. It makes you feel vulnerable and out of your depth–especially when it comes to the mountains of personal data being captured and collected about you throughout the process.

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Australia, Children from sperm donor, Sperm Donor

Australia – ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Sperm donor discovers he’s fathered ELEVEN children – and now he’s tracking them all down

Source Daily Mail

An Australian man who discovered he was a father to 11 children he never knew he had is now on a mission to track them down.

Ken Allen donated sperm many years ago and didn’t look back.
He was shocked when he received a phone call telling him he had 11 kids living across Australia.
‘Eleven, eleven, eleven, you’ve got to be kidding me,’ Mr Allen told Channel 7’s Sunday Night program.

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Canada, Frozen Embryo Legal Battle

Why Canada court’s ruling on contested embryo is wrong – but also right

Source BioNews

Over the past couple of weeks, much ink has been spilled over the recent Ontario Superior Court decision, SH v DH (see BioNews 961). It is precedent-setting in Ontario and across Canada, being the first published decision determining who may use frozen embryos upon the dissolution of a marriage.

The Ontario court last month awarded the former couple’s frozen embryo to the wife, DH, who wants to use it to become pregnant. This ruling was reached by regarding the embryo – which is not genetically related to either spouse – as ‘property’. While I agree in principle with the result and would like to see DH use the embryo for reasons set out later, based on my interpretation of the Section 8 (Consent) Regulations to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, I believe the decision may be incorrect.

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Surrogacy Abroad, UK

UK – ‘Parents risk legal status of children’ Desperate British couples go abroad for surrogacy

Source Express

COUPLES desperate to have a baby are resorting to unregulated commercial surrogacy abroad, which can lead to legal battles and losing the child, experts warn. New figures show the practice is rising but due to a chronic shortage of British surrogates, many people are going to countries where commercial arrangements are legal.

The UK’s “altruistic” system means surrogates cannot advertise and may receive only “reasonable expenses”.
Experts say this should cost no more than £12,000.

In Ukraine and Georgia surrogacy costs between £30,000 and £50,000 through official clinics.

In Canada it varies from £70,000 to £80,000. It can be cheaper in unregulated countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.

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New Zealand, Surrogacy

New Zealand – Toni Street can’t believe how lucky she is to have son Lachlan

Source Stuff

Toni Street still can’t quite believe she has got the son she thought she’d never ever have.

Lachlan Stephen France entered the world on August 14 at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital having been conceived via a surrogate, the 34-year-old broadcaster’s best-friend Sophie Braggins.

“I look at Lachie and get these ‘wow’ moments over how lucky we are,” The Hits host told Woman’s Day magazine.

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Kyrgyzstan, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

KYRGYZSTAN – Surrogate Motherhood Thriving In Kyrgyzstan, Despite Society’s Misgivings

Source Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

In dire need of work to support her family in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, 30-year-old single mother Kanykey has opted to earn thousands of dollars by carrying a baby for a couple unable to conceive a child on their own.

Surrogate motherhood is on the rise in predominantly Muslim Kyrgyzstan, despite society’s aversion to unwed pregnant women.

After getting a boost from a 2015 law that defines and protects the rights of the surrogate mother, the baby, and the adopting couple, new fertility clinics sprung up in this Central Asian country and surrogacy has flourished.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – ‘Parents risk legal status of children’ Desperate British couples go abroad for surrogacy

Source Sunday Express

COUPLES desperate to have a baby are resorting to unregulated commercial surrogacy abroad, which can lead to legal battles and losing the child, experts warn. New figures show the practice is rising but due to a chronic shortage of British surrogates, many people are going to countries where commercial arrangements are legal.

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Denmark, Sperm Donor

Why are British women using Danish sperm to get pregnant?

Source Metro

Despite the fact that Danish men are renowned for being tall, psychically fit gentlemen, they are not actually involved in the child’s life – but is that the whole clue? A paper from the Department of Health and Social Care revealed on Friday that Danish semen made up almost half of all non-British male reproductive material imported to the UK with 3,000 samples last year.

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Sperm Bank, UK

UK – Brexit news latest: Fears over shortage of donated sperm after Britain leaves EU

Source Evening Standard

Fears have been raised over a shortage of foreign sperm donations under a no-deal Brexit following the publication of technical notices released by the Government.

A paper from the Department of Health and Social Care revealed that Danish sperm made up almost half of all non-British male reproductive material imported to the UK in 2017.

A no-deal Brexit could lead to the UK leaving EU organ and tissue donation directives, which cover material including human sperm, eggs and embryos and organs for transplant.

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Surrogate Mother

Vernon mom comes close to death after living room birth

Source Infotel


‘SOMETIMES WE FORGET THE RISK THAT WE’RE TAKING.’

VERNON – Ashley Stevenson went to the doctor the day before her third child was born and discussed inducing labour since Valentina appeared not to be in any rush to be born. But that was about to change dramatically, putting her life in danger twice, all for a child she knew she wouldn’t keep.

“It was about 3:45 a.m. and my water broke,” Stevenson says. “And not just a little bit, but a ‘jolt-me-awake’ water-break.’”

Stevenson’s son was staying with his grandparents and her partner, Jordan Hammer, wasn’t there so Stevenson was alone in her apartment. She called Hammer and within about five minutes of her water breaking, her contractions started, “and they were not little ones,” she adds.

With no time to waste she decided to drive herself to the hospital, but after just three steps outside to the car she quickly changed her mind. Back inside her apartment, she called 911.

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Doctor using own sperm

Lawsuit alleging doctor’s sperm donation heads to court

Source The Spokesman-Review

BOISE – A judge will hear arguments later this month in a lawsuit by a woman who accuses a fertility doctor of fraudulently using his own sperm to artificially inseminate her mother.

Dr. Gerald Mortimer and his former medical practice asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, and U.S. District Judge David Nye is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday in Pocatello.

Kelli Rowlette and her parents, Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler, sued Mortimer earlier this year, contending the doctor committed medical malpractice, breach of contract and fraud when he carried out the artificial insemination procedures on Ashby over several months in 1980.

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Australia, Gay Parenting, Surrogacy

Australia – WA bill to provide surrogacy access to men

Source 9 News

Male same-sex couples and single men will be able have children through a surrogate under proposed amendments to West Australian laws.

The bill will be introduced in state parliament on Thursday and will bring WA into line with most Australian jurisdictions.

If the legislation passes, men in WA will have the same access to altruistic surrogacy that women and heterosexual couples have had since 2009.

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Gay Parenting, Same Sex, UK

TOM DALEY ON BECOMING A DAD, PREJUDICE AND WHY UK SURROGACY LAWS NEED TO CHANGE

Source Independent

Tom Daley is sitting on a sofa in a central London hotel suite with his husband, Dustin Lance Black, while their seven-week-old baby, Robbie Ray, snoozes peacefully beside them – and it’s clear the new fathers (both dressed in baby blue) are entirely besotted with their son.

“We don’t ever turn on a TV anymore, we just stare at the little one,” Daley, 24, tells The Independent. “It’s been so crazy. It feels kind of surreal still, the fact that we have a…”
He stops mid-sentence to coo at baby Robbie, which I soon realise is to become a regular occurrence during our interview.

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IVF

Who Is A Good Candidate For IVF?

Source Independent

While IVF is now a common fertility treatment, not everyone understands how it works or who it can help.

While some questions can only be answered in a one-on-one consultation with your doctor, this guide should get you started.

With the highest success rate of any ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) available today, IVF has helped millions of people realize their dream of growing their family. It might be the answer for you, too.

Many women with blocked or removed fallopian tubes have success with IVF since it bypasses the fallopian tubes altogether.

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Sperm Donation

Why is the process of buying sperm so terrible?

Source Fast Company

Nothing really prepares you for purchasing sperm. It’s not as simple as a Tinder-meets-Netflix swipe-through of super attractive aspiring rocket scientists and brain surgeons. The information comes to you via your fertility doctor as a printed list of URLs for around 10 different cryobanks (facilities that store sperm). You have no idea what differentiates these facilities, which may be the best fit for you, and why. The cryobanks’ websites appear similar to dating websites. But instead of adult pictures, and without warning, you are suddenly faced with photos of the donors as children, which makes things weirder, infinitely more awkward, and at times downright creepy.

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Superfetation, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Surrogate rare twins was bio mom of one of the babies — and claims agency charged her a ransom to get her son back

Source Crime Online

A surrogate mother in California who became pregnant with twins and learned that one of the babies was her biological son is suing, alleging that the surrogacy agency wanted her to pay them to get her son back.

According to the Daily Mail, Omega Family Global matched Jessica Allen, 31, with a childless Chinese couple (called the Lius in the article) and Allen underwent in vitro fertilization in April 2016. A frozen embryo from the couple was implanted into Allen, who successfully became pregnant.

It wasn’t until a month after giving birth in December 2016 that she found out that one of the twin boys belonged to her and her husband. The Mail reported that Allen was unaware she suffered from superfetation.

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Egg Freezing

UK – Heartbreaking story every woman must read before she freezes her eggs

Source  Daily Mail

Single at 36, ALICE MANN put her fertility on ice before trying to get pregnant four years later – here, with devastating honesty, she tells the heartbreaking story every woman must read before she freezes her eggs

‘So,’ said the voice on the phone. ‘Of the seven eggs that we defrosted, only two fertilised successfully. And I’m afraid both of those are abnormal. You don’t have any embryos to transfer.’

Tears welled in my eyes. No embryos to transfer. Not one. Of the 14 eggs I had frozen four years previously, at the age of 36, and at a cost of £14,000, not a single one had produced the one thing I wanted: a baby. Devastated doesn’t begin to cover it. I knew I was a pioneer of sorts — the first woman at my clinic to attempt to get pregnant using eggs I’d frozen because I was single.

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Fertility over 50

UK – The surprising truth about becoming a mother in your 50s – from the women who know

Source The Guardian

would have seemed absurd: she wanted to have a baby. But two years on, Barnes is cuddling her eight-month-old daughter, and while that means most of the other 49 ambitions will have to wait, she is delighted to be a mother.

Barnes’s situation is unusual, but she is certainly not alone. In June data published by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of births to 50-plus women has quadrupled over the last two decades, up from 55 in 2001 to 238 in 2016. During that period there were 1,859 births in the UK to women over 50, and 153 to women over 55. Flying the flag for older motherhood have been a host of celebrities, most recently actor Brigitte Nielsenwho was 54 when her fifth child, a daughter named Frida, arrived this summer. US singer Janet Jackson gave birth in January, aged 50, to son Eissa. Perhaps most visible of all has been US Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in 2004. She gave birth earlier this year, also aged 50, and was photographed soon afterwards, protesting against Trump’s immigration policies while holding newborn Maile on her lap.

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