Month: October 2018

IVF, No Needle IVF

No-Needle In Vitro Fertilization Offers New Hope To Women Struggling To Become Pregnant

Intended Parents

Source New York

For women who are trying to become pregnant, it can be an anguishing time. In vitro fertilization has proven to be successful for many, but it comes with its own set of anxiety in the form of expensive injections.

Now, a new, no-needle IVF treatment is showing promise.

Becoming a mother was everything for one woman who spoke with CBS2. Today, she has a beautiful 20-month-old daughter, but getting pregnant was far more difficult than she ever could have imagined.

“I wasn’t even like, 35 at this point and here I’m being told I can’t get pregnant,” she said.

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Supreme Court

More Good News From The Supreme Court!

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

Earlier this month, the Court denied certiorari (or “cert”) in the Melissa Cook case. There, a California surrogate tried to take legal custody of the triplets she carried for someone else, and asked the Court to declare California’s surrogacy statute unconstitutional in full. The Court declined to hear the case, and no justice dissented from the denial of cert.

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IVF

Why single embryo transfer during IVF sometimes results in twins or triplets

Intended Parents

Source Eureka Alert

It has been known for some time that it is better to transfer a single embryo to a woman’s womb during assisted reproduction treatment (ART) rather than several embryos in order to avoid a multiple pregnancy and the risks associated with it such as foetal deaths, miscarriage, premature delivery and low birthweight. However, even when single embryo transfer (SET) is performed, some women still become pregnant with twins or even triplets.

In a study published today (Tuesday) in Human Reproduction[1], one of the world’s leading reproductive medicine journals, researchers have investigated one of the reasons why this happens and have, for the first time, been able to calculate that the proportion of multiple pregnancies after SET is 1.6% and that 1.36% of multiple pregnancies after SET occur as a result of a process called zygotic splitting

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Egg Freezing, UK

UK – EXCLUSIVE: Are women being sold an expensive fertility lie? One round of egg freezing is NOT enough for even the most fertile to have a 60% chance of getting pregnant

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

More and more women are putting their eggs on ice – for which a single extraction costs between $9,000 and $12,000, plus $500 per year for storage.
However, since the process is relatively new, there has been little concrete evidence to show what the chances are of making a return on that investment.

New data on 800 women, being presented at a conference this week, suggest that, even for the most fertile group under 34 years old, achieving the modest goal of a 60 percent success rate is not likely with one round alone.  

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Europe, Infertility

Europe rights court asked to weigh in on France surrogacy case

Intended Parents

Source Jurist

The French Court of Cassation announced on Friday its decision to request an advisory opinion from the European Court of Human Rights in a case that could have important consequences for couples who are unable to conceive naturally. At issue is a dispute involving a French family whose twin girls were born with the assistance of a gestational surrogate in the United States. Because surrogacy is illegal in France and the woman asserting parental rights over the children is not their biological mother, French authorities have refused to accept the American birth certificates bearing the woman’s name.

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Ireland, Surrogacy

Irish surrogacy rates are world’s second-highest

Intended Parents

Source The Times

Ireland has been found to have the second-highest rate of surrogacy use, according to a survey involving 90 countries. The Irish government is planning to ban all commercial surrogacy as part of its Assisted Human Reproduction Bill.

The survey — carried out last year by Families Through Surrogacy (FTS), an international non-profit organisation that supports couples going through the process — reveals Ireland is second only to Israel in the rate of use of surrogacy.

Families Through Surrogacy based its finding on the answers given by 30 agencies in nine countries dealing with clients from 90 nations. It found that 68% of surrogacies carried out for Irish couples took place in Ukraine.

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Gender Selection, UK

UK couples going to the north to select gender of their babies

Intended Parents

Source Cyprus Mail

British couples wanting to evade UK law to select the gender of their child are opting to carry out the procedure in the north where ‘everything is legal’, the Daily Mail has reported.

An investigation by the newspaper on Sunday said that couples are legally arranging preliminary tests and scans in private UK clinics before being sent to centres abroad for the final procedure of gender selection.

One such fertility centre is the Crown IVF Centre in Famagusta, founded and run by Halil Ibrahim Tekin, a consultant gynaecologist and specialist in reproductive medicine and surgery.

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IVF

IVF is less successful in black women even though they produce more viable eggs and embryos – and researchers admit they don’t know why 

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Most believe that the most important number to look for is how many eggs and embryos are retrieved.

But new research shows that there may be other factors at play, especially for black patients, who have a 14 percent lower live birth rate than white women, according to data from a large clinic in Washington, DC. 

Some of the discrepancy can be explained by the fact that the African American patients were more likely to be older, with a higher BMI. 

However, the researchers of the study warn much of it is likely caused by biological factors that we don’t understand because black women are under-studied in medical research.  

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IVF

What We’re Doing Right And What Can Be Better About IVF

Intended Parents

Source Forbes

This afternoon I leave for Denver for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meetings, a conference I have attended since 1988. Having lived in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) world in varying roles for three decades, I offer the following observations about what’s good and what’s bad about assisted reproduction today.

What Can Be Better:
Access—still. There are 7 million women with infertility in the United States. Using in vitro fertilization, approximately 1% of those successfully deliver a baby per year. Imagine another area of medicine where the percentage is that low. This brings us to…

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Egg Donation, Egg Donor

An Altruistic Gift: What to Consider If You’re Thinking About Becoming an Egg Donor

Intended Parents

Source Rush PR News

Self-fulfillment is something we all strive to achieve, but how we obtain this feeling remains very different for each of us.

Some people find a sense of achievement in pursuing a high-flying career, while others want to feel they’ve helped others in a life-changing, significant way.

If you’re amongst the latter, you may be considering egg donation. After all, what better way to fulfill your own existence – and others – than by offering the gift of life itself?

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IVF

Why single embryo transfer during IVF sometimes results in twins or triplets

Intended Parents

Source Science Daily

It has been known for some time that it is better to transfer a single embryo to a woman’s womb during assisted reproduction treatment (ART) rather than several embryos in order to avoid a multiple pregnancy and the risks associated with it such as fetal deaths, miscarriage, premature delivery and low birthweight. However, even when single embryo transfer (SET) is performed, some women still become pregnant with twins or even triplets.

Read more

Canada, Surrogacy

How Canada became an international surrogacy destination

Intended Parents

Source The Globe and Mail

Here’s an arresting statistic: Almost half of the babies born to Canadian surrogates in the province of British Columbia in 2016 and 2017 were for intended parents who lived outside the country. That’s 45 of the 102 babies born to surrogates there – 44 per cent.

What’s the national tally on such outbound babies? We don’t know. Rather, we aren’t told. The number could presumably be calculated, since individual physicians carry out the procedures and bill for them, and provinces issue birth certificates. But the information is not publicly available. Then again, we should hardly be surprised: In Canada, we don’t even know the total number of babies born to surrogates for any parent, Canadian or otherwise. I and others have been asking around for some time now.

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Egg Donation, Sperm Donation, Student

Students turn to sperm and egg donation to make money

Intended Parents

Source State Press

College students are always looking for creative ways to make money to pay their bills and other necessary expenses, and some students have used sperm and egg donation to make money while also helping out families in need.

Making a deposit at the sperm bank
Conner Jensen, a junior studying intermedia art, has produced three children and has contributed to six current pregnancies from donating his sperm to Phoenix Sperm Bank.

Jensen was 18 when he first started and has now been a donor for two years. Jensen says his friends would always joke about donating their sperm in high school.

“It’s actually really difficult to get in the program because you have to have a high sperm count. One day, I was like ‘I’ll just give it a shot!’” Jensen said.

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Supreme Court, Surrogacy Law

U.S. Supreme Court denies request to hear Iowa surrogacy case

Intended Parents

Source Des Moines Register

The United States Supreme Court has denied a request to review an Iowa case involving whether a Cedar Rapids man who paid a surrogate to birth a baby is the child’s legal parent.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in February that surrogacy contracts are enforceable in the state. The losing party filed a petition in May asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

The Iowa case was one of several dozen distributed for consideration by the justices at a Sept. 24 conference. On Monday, the court issued a list of orders showing it had denied certiorari, or declined to take up the case.
That means that the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in the case will stand, at least until the U.S. Supreme Court has another opportunity to hear a case involving surrogacy 

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IVF, Obesity

How Dangerous Is It for Overweight Women to Go Through IVF?

Intended Parents

Source Healthline

The television show “This Is Us” has taken on a lot of emotional issues in its first two seasons, not the least of which was the death of husband and father Jack.

This season, the popular drama series is dealing with another controversial, important topic — obesity and fertility.

“This Is Us” follows the lives of five family members — including Kate, a woman who’s obese and has faced weight-related stigma throughout her life.

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Australia, Surrogate Mother

Australia – Meet the Aussie mum who’s ‘renting’ out her womb

Intended Parents

Source Lifestyle Yahoo

An Aussie mum who advertised her womb for ‘rent’ is now expecting for the first time as a surrogate, telling her kids the baby “is not ours to keep”.

Michelle Griffin, 26, shares Leilani, four, and Isaac, three, with her hubby Trent, but is now 13 weeks along with a bub for a couple who have struggled with fertility problems.

The professional birthing coach from Perth told Yahoo Lifestyle she has always been ‘honest’ with her kids, who are just as excited as she is about helping another family.

Australia, Infertility

Australia – Why I’ve decided not to fix my infertility’

Intended Parents

Source Body and Soul

On paper, Ally Hensley had everything she needed to have a baby. But did she want to…

On January 8 this year, I walked into an IVF clinic with my pregnant best friend. She had already conceived naturally twice, so we weren’t there for her. I had an appointment to explore egg retrieval for the purpose of egg freezing.

I kept telling myself, I was ‘creating options.’ However, it was much deeper than that – I was trying to explore how I really felt about motherhood.

It’s a strange situation when, for your entire adult life, you’ve known that you’re infertile but you’re also not sure if you’re even maternal. When, from the age of 16 you’ve been saving money for a surrogate but you’re not entirely sure if you’d want children, even if you can have them.

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Embryo Freezing, gamete donation, Malta

Embryo Freezing And Gamete Donation: Malta’s Laws On Assisted Reproduction Have Just Changed, And Here’s What That Means

Intended Parents

Source Lovin Malta

You may have blinked and missed it, but yesterday heralded a not-unsubstantial change in the way all things fertility-related are to be regulated in Malta. The amended law on assisted reproduction was approved and passed and started being implemented as of 1st October.

What I will attempt to do is give you a little summary of what can and can’t be done in Malta from this point on, and what has actually changed. Once again, I’ll refrain from rhetoric and judgement. You’re all grown-ups and capable of forming your own opinions, however, the unfortunate (or fortunate) thing is, the die has been cast and this is the law that Maltese residents must abide by for the future.

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Crowdfunding Appeal , Surrogacy, UK

‘We’re appealing for help to pay for a surrogacy and make our dream of becoming parents come true’

Intended Parents

Source Manchester Evening News

A couple have launched an online crowdfunding appeal to pay for a surrogate to make their dream of becoming parents come true.

Jamie Potts and her partner Mike, who live in Eccles, Salford, long for a child of their own and have been trying to start a family for years.

But complications with Jamie’s health mean she is unable to carry a baby herself. Now, she has taken to the gofundme fundraising platform to appeal for donations from the public.

The 36-year-old has been through two rounds of IVF, and both her and Mike, 26, have endured heartache after heartache after each attempt failed.

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