Category: Surrogacy

Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law

Calling for a Radical Change of Perspective on Surrogate Motherhood

Intended Parents

Source: The Center for Bioethics and Culture

23 NGOs (including The Center for Bioethics and Culture) from eight countries and two international networks (including the #StopSurrogacyNow Coalition) have issued a renewed call to the members of the Experts’ Group of the Hague International Conference.

Specifically, we are asking them to:

1. Renounce working on any instrument which would tend to organize surrogate motherhood internationally or would favor mutual recognition in this domain;

2. Recognize the necessity of a Convention on the Abolition of Surrogacy, similar to what was done against slavery and practices analogous to slavery with the Conventions of 1926 and 1956, and to recommend that the Member States of the Conference engage in this direction within the United Nations, which is the relevant organisation in this respect.

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Infertility, Insurance, IVF, Surrogacy

How They Voted: Senate imposes state mandate for health insurance coverage

Intended Parents

Source SC News

Following the Feb. 6 legislative cutoff deadline for committee action on bills in their originating house, both chambers took up debate and voted on dozens of bills in floor sessions that lasted well into the night.

Lawmakers have until Wednesday, Feb. 14, to pass bills and move them to the opposite house for further consideration. Measures that don’t make it past this deadline, except budget-related bills, will likely be dead for this session.

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India, IVF, Semen, Sperm Donor, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

India – Using late son’s preserved semen, couple gets twin grandkids through IVF, surrogacy

Intended Parents

Source: Nyooz

Pune: The parents of a 27-year-old man, who died of brain tumour two years ago, used their unmarried son’s cryopreserved semen extracted long before his death to have grandchildren. Fusing the semen with eggs of a matching donor, doctors created embryos and transferred them into a surrogate mother’s womb.

The woman, who incidentally is the man’s aunt, delivered healthy twin baby boys two days ago. Experts, however, have raised questions about the ethics behind the procedure. The man was diagnosed with brain tumour in 2013 while pursuing higher education in Germany.

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Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother, Ukraine

The reasons behind the surrogacy boom in Ukraine

Intended Parents

Source: NewsByte

Ukraine is in news again but for reasons apolitical. The European nation has become the go-to place for people wanting to have children via surrogacy.

Despite regional, cultural and bureaucratic barriers, what unites prospective parents and surrogate mothers is desperate need. One party needs a child, the other, money.

Here, we look at how surrogacy is making a few dreams come true in Ukraine.

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Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Surrogate mothers could be paid more than their expenses under Senate bill

Intended Parents

Source: The Witachee Times

SPOKANE —Surrogate mothers could be paid for carrying a child for another couple under a bill that passed the Senate despite criticism that it could turn babies into “commodities like a bushel of wheat or widgets.”

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Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother, Ukraine

Ukraine Has Unintentionally Become A Hotbed For Surrogacy Tourism

Intended Parents

Source: Grazia

© Shutterstock

Finding a surrogate in the UK can be a difficult pursuit, with laws around surrogacy giving the majority of rights to the surrogate. Legal contracts cannot be enforced, and surrogates cannot be paid except for reasonable expenses, which means that upon having the baby the surrogate has full maternal rights to the child even if she has no biological connection to it. With surrogacy legislation so complicated in the UK, many couples choose to go abroad to look for a surrogate.

While surrogacy tourism has been banned in India, Nepal and Thailand – former hotspots for the industry – amidst exploitation claims, other countries have slowly popped up to take their place. One surprising example is Ukraine, where a series of liberal laws has unintentionally created a thriving surrogacy industry.

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Adoption, India, Infertility, IVF, Surrogacy

India – Surrogacy and Adoption: An insight

Intended Parents

Source: Times of India

Every couple hopes to hear their child giggling in the house, but sometimes their dream seems to slowly fade to a point that it starts to feel far-fetched. Science is offering many Assisted Reproductive Techniques but seldom medical issues with the couple obstruct the way, even after options like IVF, IUI, and ICSI etc. When these techniques fail, a couple has two final options left: Adoption and Surrogacy.

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Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

The Ethics of a Surrogate Mother: What is Surrogacy’s Social Responsibility?

Intended Parents

Source: Buffalow Business First

The Ethics of a Surrogate Mother: What is Surrogacy’s Social Responsibility? Gestational Surrogates earn more than most new teachers in the US — so why call them victims? William Houghton, director of Sensible Surrogacy, presents the pro-surrogacy perspective in a new interview.

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Law, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

SB126: Bill to limit surrogate births stalls in committee

Intended Parents

Source: The Daily Universe

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers appeared to be swayed by Utah families — many with babes in arms — who urged lawmakers to reject changes to Utah’s surrogate birth laws. SB126, which would repeal protections and requirements for surrogate births in Utah, was stalled in committee on Feb. 7 The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, sponsored legislation passed in 2005 making surrogate birth legal in Utah under certain conditions. Hillyard is sponsoring SB126 to repeal specifications and protections for surrogate births.

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Europe, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Surrogacy convention – let’s not forget human rights are for all

Intended Parents

Source:  Euractiv

A photo made available on 08 August 2014 shows Thai nannies holding nine suspected surrogate babies after a police raid at a residential apartment on 5 August 2014. [EPA/STR]
An international conference is currently trying to regulate surrogacy, a global business estimated to be worth roughly $5 billion a year, and the EU should weigh in on the ongoing negotiations and make all efforts to condemn and limit the practice whose principal victims are children, writes Sophia Kuby.

Sophia Kuby is the director of EU advocacy at ADF International.

Surrogacy agencies, clinics, lawyers, and medical doctors cash in on the business of selling sperm and egg cells, creating embryos in vitro, implanting them into a woman’s hired womb and providing the “commissioning parents” with a baby.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law, an intergovernmental institution comprising 82 members, including all EU member states and the EU itself, has stepped into the ethical and legal quagmire created by this business.

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Egg Donor, Embryo, Gay Parenting, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Gay couples find path to parenthood at Greenwich Hospital

Intended Parents

Source: Greenwich Time

Douglas Graneto (left) and Wear Culvahouse (right) with their 8-year-old daughter Katie (middle).

GREENWICH — When Wear Culvahouse, a Greenwich obstetrician-gynecologist, delivered a baby for the first male same-sex parents at Greenwich Hospital in 2004, he saw doors opening for himself as well.

The team assembled to to help the male couple included personnel from labor and delivery, the nursery and administration. They set up two rooms at Greenwich Hospital: One for the new fathers to learn how to bathe, feed and change their baby, and one for their surrogate to recover.

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Law, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Senator aims to repeal legal protections for surrogate births

Intended Parents

Source:  St George News

With the issue now before the Utah Supreme Court of whether or not gay men should have the right to the same legal protections in surrogate birth arrangements as others have under Utah law, one senator wants to end those protections, at least for now, for all couples in order to keep a promise he made 13 years ago.

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, is seeking to pass a bill that would end legal protections for surrogate births | Profile photo via senate.utah.gov, St. George News Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, is sponsoring a bill, designated SB 126, that would repeal Utah law on gestational agreements, law that came from a bill he sponsored in 2005.

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Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

A dad’s discovery: Raising a child is thankless work

Intended Parents

Source: The Globe and Mail

A year ago, after their surrogate’s labour through the night, Globe business reporter Tim Kiladze, left, and his husband, Matt, finally got to meet their daughter Eva. Tim took 10 months of parental leave to care for the baby.

A year ago, after their surrogate’s labour through the night, Globe business reporter Tim Kiladze, left, and his husband, Matt, finally got to meet their daughter Eva. Tim took 10 months of parental leave to care for the baby .

I tried my very best to be calm, convincing myself that everything before this, all the agony and the ecstasy in my life, had been preparation for this moment.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – If you are thinking about having children through surrogacy, you should go to this event

Intended Parents

Source:  Pink News

(Getty)

Surrogacy is becoming an increasingly popular way for couples to have children, but the process varies around the world and where to start can be a challenge for some parents.

Well look no further – this event has all the information you need to get started on the process of starting your family with surrogacy.

In reality, surrogacy is as old as the Bible, but despite its rich history, parents-to-be and surrogates are both in need of a lot of support from the beginning of their journey.

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Employee Benefits, Fertility Benefits, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Fertility benefits becoming hot retention tool for employers

Intended Parents

Source:  EBN

A roughly 10% spike in employer-offered fertility benefits is expected in the next two years as more companies evaluate and prioritize family-friendly benefits in an effort to attract and retain top talent.

New research out by Willis Towers Watson reveals the percentage of employers offering fertility benefits to employees is expected to grow from 55% in 2017 to 66% by 2019. And, of employers already offering financial assistance, 81% said the benefits would apply to same-sex couples next year, compared with 65% in 2017.

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Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law

Tribune Editorial: The Legislature should leave the surrogacy law alone

Intended Parents

Source:  The Salt Lake Tribune

Surprisingly, maddeningly, the Utah Legislature is still fighting gay marriage.

At least one legislator is. Sen. Lyle Hillyard introduced a bill Wednesday to repeal a 2005 law that allowed Utah couples to have children through surrogacy. Hillyard was the sponsor of the 2005 law.

Dozens of Utahns shared their surrogacy stories and asked a legislative committee to block the bill. Lisa Candie Barlow told the committee she is currently 14 weeks pregnant as a surrogate for her brother and her brother’s wife.

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Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – Mothers’ campaign for change to surrogacy laws

Intended Parents

Source ITV

Pete and Tracy (C) with surrogates Kate (L) and Trisha (R)

A woman from Rotherham who has been a surrogate mother twice – is calling for urgent changes to what they believe to be outdated surrogacy law.

When Kate became pregnant she always intended to give the child to its parents, Tracy and Pete from Portsmouth.

But, under UK law she could have changed her mind at any point and kept the baby as her own, because she gave birth to the child

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Donor Eggs, Donor Embryos, Egg Donation, Egg Donor, Gay Parenting, New Zealand, Same Sex, Surrogacy

New Zealand – Gay couple find Māori egg donor through newspaper ad – now they need a surrogate

Intended Parents

Source: Stuff NZ

Nelson and Baden Marino-Hall have been together more than five years and run a successful home renovation company in Queensland called The Reno Lads.

A married same-sex couple who advertised in The Dominion Post for a Māori egg donor have found one – and are now searching for a surrogate.

About 60 Māori women offered to help after Baden and Nelson Marino-Hall, who live in Toowoomba, Queensland, sought a donor in July last year.

They settled on one, who lives in Australia, and now have six donated embryos on ice.

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India, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

India – Central Government Approves Maternity Leave For Employees Opting For Surrogacy

Intended Parents

Source: NDTV.com

For babies born through surrogacy, commissioning mothers can avail paid maternity leave

New Delhi: Central government’s women employees, whose children are born through surrogacy, will now be entitled to maternity leave, according to an official order of the personnel ministry.

The employees can avail of paid maternity leaves up to 26 weeks (about 180 days).

The ministry has written to all central government departments about a 2015 Delhi High Court order on this issue.

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Infertility, Law, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

After courts started allowing gay couples to use surrogates, a Utah senator wants to repeal the law he once championed

Intended Parents
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) l-r Senator Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan listens as Sarah Tuttle gives reasons not to repeal SB126 regarding surrogacy Wednesday, February 7, 2018 in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee at the Capitol. “I would’ve given anything to have been able to carry my own children,” said Tuttle who now has two daughters thanks to a surrogate, Kara Ford, who is now her best friend.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Sen. Lyle Hillyard sat in his chair as Lisa Candie Barlow asked him not to repeal the law that provides her legal protections while she carries her brother’s child.

Barlow is 14 weeks pregnant with a baby that she’ll give back to her brother upon delivery.

She was one of dozens of mothers, fathers and surrogates – including Abby Cox, who is married to Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox – who pleaded with a committee on Wednesday to block Hillyard’s SB126.

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