Category: Surrogacy

New Zealand, Surrogacy

New Zealand – Bill seeks streamlined path through surrogacy process

Intended Parents

Source RNZ.CO.NZ

A new bill in Parliament recognises that the path to being a parent is not always straightforward, especially if you’re becoming one via a surrogacy arrangement.

A child born in surrogacy generally happens one of two ways:

Through a traditional surrogate, where the woman carrying the baby has been artificially inseminated with the sperm of a father who is one of the intending parents, or donor sperm.

Or it happens via a gestational surrogate where IVF makes it possible to gather eggs from the mother (or an egg donor), fertilise them with sperm from the father (or a sperm donor), and place the embryo into the uterus of a woman who is the gestational surrogate.

If that sounds a bit complicated, it actually gets more complicated, and this is the reason why a Member’s Bill from Labour MP Tamati Coffey – the Improving Surrogacy Arrangements Bill – is currently before Parliament.

Read more

Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother, Ukraine, War

Ukraine war: Couple’s bid to make safe home for surrogate mother

Intended Parents

Source BBC

Heather Easton (right) has built a close friendship with Vita Lysenko

A couple are trying to give the Ukrainian surrogate mother of their baby a safe home in the UK.

Heather and Mark Easton, from Rugby, Warwickshire, returned from Kyiv with baby Sophie two weeks before Russia invaded the country.

They have found a sponsor for Vita Lysenko and her family who fled to Belgium last week.

But the family do not have passports and have found getting visas “extremely difficult”, Mrs Easton said.

After having a hysterectomy Mrs Easton decided to use a surrogate to have a child.

Read more

Ireland, Law, Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

Irish surrogacy in Ukraine: What does the Russian invasion mean?

Intended Parents

Source News Talk

Mary Seery-Kearney says the woman who gives birth to the child remains the child’s legal mother

Author Jack Quaan

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not changed the legal status of surrogate children born to Irish parents.

That’s according to Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery-Kearney – who says regardless of where a child is born, the mother who gives birth to the child remains the child’s legal mother.

It comes amid concerns whether some surrogacy contracts may have been changed if surrogate mothers were to give birth outside of Ukraine.

“The agreement was based on an agreement that is recognised in Ukrainian law, and subject to Ukrainian law, and based on the baby being born in Ukraine.

“When the couple would come home to Ireland, they have to apply to the court in order to get the parental order for the father – because we don’t have surrogacy legislation in Ireland

Read more

Surrogacy

Egg freezing, IVF and surrogacy: Fertility benefits have evolved to become the ultimate workplace perk

Intended Parents

Source CNBC

Halfpoint Images | Moment | Getty Images

KEY POINTS

Employees are increasingly enjoying a full suite of fertility benefits as companies look for new ways to attract top talent and boost their DEI credentials.

As of 2020, more than two-fifths (42%) of large U.S. employers offered coverage for IVF treatment, while almost one-fifth (19%) offered egg freezing.

With the pandemic having shifted individual priorities and boosted employee leverage, more companies are introducing the benefit to remain competitive.

Read more

Born Through Surrogacy, Surrogacy, UK

UK – ‘We were born through surrogacy and couldn’t be happier. If it’s done openly and honestly, it’s wonderful’

Intended Parents

Source INEWS

Whenever Georgina Roberts thinks about her surrogate, she feels gratitude for the selflessness of the woman who gave birth to her,

“I know my surrogate did what she did from a place of kindness and compassion for another human being,” says Georgina. “That is very important to me and it is lovely to know I am genetically linked to someone who has done the most amazing thing for someone else.”

Georgina, now 23, was brought up in the Midlands and had a very happy childhood with her mum and dad Jerry and Jennie. But she has always known she was born through surrogacy to Suzanne who her parents affectionately referred to as her “tum mum” when she was younger.

Read more

Surrogacy, War

International surrogacy law: existing conflicts unresolved

Intended Parents

Source Bio News UK

The current conflict in Ukraine has drawn into sharp focus the myriad of problems that international surrogacy can throw up. Very little looks certain for the children, surrogates, and intended parents affected by the conflict in Ukraine, other than the fact that difficult practical and legal questions will hang over these families for months and years to come.

Differences between jurisdictions in the laws surrounding surrogacy arrangements have caused problems for families for years, as the recent international surrogacy law case of Re X,Y and Z (Children: Parental Orders: Time Limit) [2022] demonstrates. The case, which straddled multiple jurisdictions – California and Oregon in the USA, Denmark, and the UK – clearly highlights the ongoing vulnerability of surrogate-born children with questions over their legal parentage. It also brings into close focus the need for law reform to stop more surrogate born children and their intended parents falling victim to complex international conflicts of law.

Read more

Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

‘Will the babies be left in a war zone?’ The terrified Ukrainian surrogates – and the parents waiting for their children

Intended Parents

Source The Guardian

Since Russian tanks began rolling over the Ukrainian border, the international media have reported on the plight of foreign couples using paid Ukrainian surrogate mothers. Usually, these articles make scant reference to the surrogates’ wellbeing, instead being written up as breathless tales of derring-do, as plucky couples launch daring raids to bring their babies to safety.

The Irish Independent, for example, reported on a County Kerry couple who had brought their son back from Ukraine without making any reference to their surrogate, presumably left postpartum in a war zone. Sometimes, the couples appear indifferent to the plight of the women left behind: one American parent recently wrote a 1,257-word Instagram post about getting her newborn out of Ukraine in which she thanked her gym for keeping her “fit enough” to make the journey and the travel agent who had arranged her hotel, but did not make any reference to the woman who had carried her baby.

Read more

Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, UK

UK – Surrogacy: the current law and proposals for reform

Intended Parents

Source Family Law

The number of people choosing surrogacy as a way to parenthood is increasing. Whilst it is difficult to know exactly how many surrogacy cases there have been in recent years, the number of applications for parental orders, which is the order required to recognise intended parents as a child’s legal parents, is growing. With this growth have come calls for reform to surrogacy laws, which many say are outdated and do not reflect current attitudes and lifestyles.

Read more

Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

After dramatic rescue mission, Chicago couple meets premature twins born via surrogacy in Ukraine

Intended Parents

Source ABC Chicago

Twin Ukrainian boys who were born via surrogacy shortly after Russia began its attack in the country have been safely evacuated to Poland.

The twins’ father, Alexander Spektor, who lives in Chicago with the boys’ mother, Irma Nuñez, was able to meet his sons for the first time after their rescue Monday. The boys were born 10 days premature on Feb. 25.

Read more

Surrogacy, UK

UK – Aunt gives birth to niece’s baby after volunteering to be her surrogate

Intended Parents

Source Mirror

Bethan Williams (left) who was a surrogate for niece Shelley Badea (right) with baby Joanie ( Image: Lynne Casey/WALES NEWS SERVICE

An aunt is mum to her own niece’s baby…after volunteering to be her surrogate.

Loving aunt Bethan Williams stepped in when niece Shelley Badea, 33, was desperate to become a mum but could not carry her own child.

And Bethan, 38, helped make her dreams of a baby come true – by giving birth to her own great-niece.

Mum-of-two Bethan has now given birth to little Joanie Alina Badea after seven years of IVF treatment.

Proud grandmother Lynne Casey, of Caernarfon, North Wales, has now thanked her sister Bethan for her “selfless” act.

She said: “I can’t thank my sister enough for what she has done.

Read more

Ireland, Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

Four Irish babies born to Ukrainian surrogates in Kyiv hospital – Tánaiste

Intended Parents

Source Irish Times

Ukraine is a popular location for Irish couples seeking to have babies via surrogate mothers. Photograph: iStock

There are four Irish babies newly born to surrogate Ukrainian mothers in a maternity hospital in the country’s capital Kyiv, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar disclosed details about the previously unknown number of babies in Ukraine while making the case against the expulsion of Russia’s ambassador to Ireland Yuriy Filatov.

The Fine Gael leader was speaking about the need to maintain relations with Russia despite growing public and political calls for Mr Filatov’s expulsion over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“There are four babies in the Ukraine at the moment in a maternity hospital in Kyiv and that hospital could be under Russian occupation within weeks. We need to be able to talk to the Russians,” he told RTÉ’s News at One.

Read more

Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

Premature Twins Born To Surrogate Mother In Ukraine Stranded In War-Torn City

Intended Parents

Source LA Times

Two premature twin babies born from a surrogate have been stuck in Ukraine since the conflict began, as parents Alex Spektor and Irma Nuñez attempt to find ways to keep their children safe. This is a representational image. Christian Bowen/Unsplash.

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to escalate into an all-out war, the surrogate baby industry in Ukraine is under attack as the safety of the babies born and the surrogates who give birth to the infants are put into question on Tuesday, March 1.

Alex Spektor and Irma Nuñez, who live in the state of Georgia in the U.S., found themselves worrying for their newborn children after their surrogate in Ukraine gave birth to the babies prematurely at 32 weeks in Kyiv last week, according to Today.

The twin boys, Lenny and Moishe Spektor, are currently being cared for by the surrogate and a pediatrician in Kyiv. However, Spektor and Nuñez are worried for their safety as they look for possible hospitals in the country that has a bomb shelter to ensure the children’s safety, the New York Post reported.

Read more

Surrogacy, UK, Ukraine, War

British couple’s ‘absolute nightmare’ stranded in Ukraine while collecting newborn surrogate twins

Intended Parents

Source Independent

A British couple are stuck in a “living nightmare” after they travelled to Kyiv to collect their surrogate-born twins and found themselves stranded in the middle of a war.

Manisha and Metaish Parmar arrived in Ukraine three weeks ago as the surrogate mother gave birth to the babies they had been waiting for for 13 years.

They are now stranded in an apartment in Kyiv with their newborns and Mr Parmar’s parents amid Russia’s invasion, and run for shelter together in a bunker when the air raid sirens go off.

Read more

Surrogacy

Bill to dramatically upend surrogacy in South Dakota fails in the House of Representatives

Intended Parents

Source Mitchell Republic

PIERRE, S.D. — A bill that would have ended surrogacy in South Dakota as it is currently practiced failed on Thursday, Feb. 17, in a close vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.

The GOP-dominated chamber voted 38-29 in opposition to House Bill 1311, which would have declared null and void any so-called “pre-birth” contracts between prospective parents and a gestational carrier or surrogate.

The vote followed at times stormy rhetoric on the House floor, as bill supporters characterized the practice of surrogacy as tantamount to a violation of human rights.

Read more

Surrogacy, Ukraine, War

Surrogacy has Argentine families stranded due to Ukrainian crisis

Intended Parents

Source Merco Press

At least five Argentine couples who had sought to have children through surrogate Ukrainian mothers are among those currently stranded in the war-torn country, it was reported.

They are also having troubles accessing air-raid shelters.

Ukraine is one of the few countries in the world that allows couples to access surrogacy and thus fulfill the dream of becoming parents. Dozens of Argentines and citizens from other parts of the world travel there every year for that purpose.

“They are telling us to leave Ukrainian territory. It was all very sudden and we have to organize ourselves. The issue is that we do not know how to go about that,” an Argentine mother has been quoted by Télam as saying.

Read more

Denmark, Surrogacy

Denmark Threatens To Deport Surrogate-Born Children

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

Last week saw a positive ruling come out of the United Kingdom courts concerning parentage recognition of three children born by surrogacy in the United States to two European dads. But prior to reaching the happy legal outcome, the family went through rough times, including in their home country of Denmark. The Scandinavian kingdom had threatened to deport all of their children! Not to mention the fact that they faced the added obstacles of their surrogacy agency going out of business due to an embezzlement scandal and running up against the ticking legal time clock of Brexit.

Read more

Surrogacy, UK

UK – Woman born with no uterus finds joy as surrogate sister gives birth to her baby

Intended Parents

Source ITV.com

A woman from the Black Country has made her sister’s dream come true – by giving birth to her son.

Laura Knight, 29, was 16 when she was told she had MRKH syndrome, meaning she was born without a uterus and would need to find a surrogate to be able to have a child.

However she didn’t have to look very far, because her sister Hayley Burton, 33, offered to help.

Mrs Burton gave birth to Mrs Knight’s son Noah on January 10th 2022.

The two sisters, who are nurses at Sandwell Hospital, said they describe baby Noah as the bun and his aunty as the oven.

Mrs Burton says: “You’d do anything for your family, wouldn’t you, and I had something she didn’t have.

“I’d had no problems conceiving my own two children and I just wanted to make a family and give something back.”

Read more

Surrogacy, Ukraine

Ireland – Couple still stuck in Ukraine waiting for surrogate baby’s documents

Intended Parents

Source Independent

A British couple in Ukraine have described the “bizarre” and “worrying” wait for their surrogate-born baby’s emergency travel document.

Thousands of Irish and British citizens are now being urged to leave the country immediately over growing concerns that Russia could launch an invasion in the coming days, despite diplomatic efforts to avert war.

Mr Garratt, who works in stakeholder engagement at London North Eastern Railway, said he and his wife are growing increasingly concerned after the UK Foreign Office updated its advice on Friday evening to encourage UK nationals to leave.

He told the PA news agency: “It does add to our worry, we’re thinking about basic things that we need to do to make sure that we’re ready to leave as soon as possible.”

“If we take the advice at face value, it means the UK and also the US government are worried that Russian action is imminent – that makes us want to get out.”

Read more

Scotland, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Scotland – ‘Change the law and smooth the path to surrogacy’

Intended Parents

Source STV News

Claire Kelly knows more than most about surrogacy – she has carried three babies for two different couples.

She was inspired to join Surrogacy UK after watching a documentary while she was pregnant with her own second child.

“I started attending surrogacy socials and I met loads of people – both couples and surrogates – and I’ve been part of it ever since,” she says in Thursday’s episode of Scotland Tonight.

“The couple I met at a social – at the time I was pregnant with my second son – they thought I was carrying for another couple…

Read more

India, Surrogacy

Is the new law a death knell for the surrogacy industry in India?

Intended Parents

Source Times of India

Ratna and Vijay (names changed) were married in 2017 and despite a blissful marriage of 2 years, they were unsuccessful in getting pregnant. Upon tests, doctors discovered a uterus complication that would not allow Ratna to become a mother. Amongst the options available, the distressed couple chose to give birth to a child through the gift of surrogacy. Today, Ratna and Vijay are delighted parents of twin sons and are thankful to their invisible surrogate for the blessing of a lifetime. Surrogacy gave hope to childless couples to still have children with their blood and DNA through advanced technology. Lesser interference from the government, bureaucracy and local administration since 2002 has led the surrogacy market to boom.

Read more