Surrogacy Abroad, UK

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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?

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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?

Intended Parents

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?

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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

Intended Parents

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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Canada, Surrogate Mother

Canada – ‘The biggest thing is love’: woman carrying baby for husband’s twin brother

Intended Parents

Source CBC

A family from Cape Breton is soon to grow in a unique way.

Matt and Ryan Currie are identical twin brothers.

Ryan is married to Lauren. They live in Westmount, Cape Breton.

Matt lives in Halifax with his husband, Michael.

Lauren is seven months into a pregnancy as the surrogate for Matt and Michael’s child.

“I don’t think that there’s a day that goes by that we don’t pinch ourselves with disbelief and excitement,” said Matt.

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Germany, Same Sex

Same-sex German couples forced abroad for fertility treatments

Intended Parents

Source Handelsblatt Global

German cultures of conception and birth are undergoing a quiet evolution. In the last 15 years, the number of children conceived by artificial insemination and other forms of assisted reproduction has almost doubled, with 21,000 children born in 2015.

But growing demand for assisted reproduction is bumping up against Germany’s laws on conception, which are much stricter than many of its European neighbors. Only couples may use donated sperm to conceive, and they can only do so if someone is prepared to accept paternity of the child. And donating sperm anonymously is illegal.

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Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – Why I’ve agreed to be a surrogate for the fifth time – after being sterilised

Intended Parents

Source Inews

I discovered surrogacy when I was looking into donating my eggs. My interest in carrying someone else’s baby came from a place of feeling quite sorry for myself. I was a young single mum and alone. Then I had this realisation that someone would swap places with me in a heartbeat. All these couples that couldn’t have children – I could help them.

What I didn’t like about egg donation was that it was completely anonymous. I was attracted to Surrogacy UK (SUK) because of their “friendship first” ethos. It meant I could have a relationship with the couple, their friends, and possibly have one after I gave birth, too.

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Sperm Donation

America’s hottest export? Sperm

Intended Parents

Source The Guardian

Ella Rasmussen’s doctors started to prod her about children when she turned 30. She was single, suffered from endometriosis, and contemplated a hysterectomy. After several years, the nudges took hold. Because she wasn’t a good candidate to freeze only her eggs, she was advised to undergo IVF and freeze fertilized embryos.

In 2016 Rasmussen, then living in Queensland in Australia, decided to take the plunge. A friend offered his services, but she worried that if she knew the father, but he wasn’t involved, she or her child could feel hurt. If she wanted sperm, she’d have to buy it.

For Rasmussen, a striking brunette of multi-ethnic background, looks or an attraction to the donor weren’t a factor. Neither was race; it would be difficult to match what she knew of her own ethnic background anyway. She wanted someone who might fit her family personality-wise. That included a love of music and a sense of humor.
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India, Surrogacy

India – Compensatory surrogacy, a new concept

Intended Parents

Source Deccan Chronicle

Hyderabad: Compensatory surrogacy, and not altruistic surrogacy, was recommended by the Telangana infertility specialists in their discussion and debate at the conference of Indian Fertility Society’s Telangana Chapter on Sunday.

The central government, in its amendment of Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016, has stated that commercial surrogacy is prohibited and there must be a 16-month insurance coverage provided by the commissioning parents to the surrogate to deal with medical complications. The Founder of IFS, Dr Kuldeep Jain, explained, “Altruistic surrogacy is not possible as, with nuclear families and with near and dear ones not being in the same city, it is not found to be possible. There is only 1 per cent chance for this type of surrogacy as only someone who is really very concerned, free and can do it selflessly for the couple will come forward.”

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