Infertility, intended parents, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Supreme Court says contracts with surrogate mothers are legal

Source: RadioIowa

State-Judicial-Building
The state Judicial Building.

The Iowa Supreme Court rules that contracts made with surrogate mothers are legal in the state.

The case involves a couple from Cedar Rapids who were nearing 50 years old when they married in 2013 and decided they wanted to have a child. They placed an online ad in 2015 and signed an agreement to have the Muscatine woman serve as the surrogate mother. Both embryos implanted in the surrogate mother took hold — but the twins were born prematurely and one died.

The surrogate mother then refused to give up the surviving baby, saying the surrogate contract was not legal in Iowa. The district court, after genetic testing, ruled the contract is enforceable, terminated the parental rights of the surrogate mother and her husband, and awarded the Cedar Rapids man permanent legal and physical custody.

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Infertility, Insurance, IVF, Surrogacy

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

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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Adoption, India, Infertility, IVF, Surrogacy

India – Surrogacy and Adoption: An insight

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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Cancer, Infertility, Same Sex, Sperm Donation, Sperm Donor

Cancer patient outraged to discover he can only donate sperm to female partner (Video)

Source: Stuff NZ

A gay man suffering severe pain from cancer was mortified to discover he was only able to donate sperm to a female partner.

Logan Morton, 22, received the shock diagnosis he had acute myeloid leukemia in April last year, and after being warned the treatment could make him infertile, arranged to store healthy sperm through Fertility Associates.

Severely debilitated from the cancer, Morton asked a nurse to fill out the paperwork, and noticed afterwards that he was only given the option of donating his sperm to a female partner.

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Employee Benefits, Fertility Benefits, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Fertility benefits becoming hot retention tool for employers

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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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

(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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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Williston woman gives birth to another couple’s baby

Source: Bismarck Tribune

Tabatha Ballein, of Williston, gave birth to the daughter of Shannon Mouser and Seth Paskin, of Austin, Texas on Thursday at 6:45 a.m. Sky Eloise Paskin, was born at 6 pounds, 1 ounce and 19 inches long.

Shannon Mouser and Seth Paskin, of Austin, Texas, have desperately been trying to have a child of their own.

The couple married in 2014 and immediately tried various methods to get pregnant, including vitro fertilization, which involves combining sperm and an egg outside of the body, and artificial insemination. For years, they had no luck.

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Embryo, Infertility, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Following years of loss and infertility, Nampa woman steps in to carry twins for younger sister

Source: Idaho Press-Tribune

“That’s my son,” Richardson remembers thinking. “I just caught my son.” Her sister, Andrea Friesen, laid her head back on the hospital bed and sobbed with relief. “Every single nurse, doctor, everybody in there had tears in their eyes,” the sisters’ father, Don Larson, said. “And it was just that final relief of, oh my goodness, it’s finally over, and it was successful.”

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Egg Donation, Egg Donor, Infertility

These Egg Donor Sisters Have 22 Biological Children Between Them

Source: Mummyish

Imagine having 22 biological children – it’s okay if you just ran away screaming, I did a little bit. Now imagine that you don’t have to actually take care of any of them – yeah, that’s better. Egg donors aren’t technically parents, meaning they don’t carry, birth, or raise the kids they help create. But their contributions make so many dreams come true.

For some people having a big family is a dream, but some simply can’t have children. That is where the Van Der Worp sisters come in. They are some pretty incredible egg donors. Between the two sisters, they have 22 biological kids. Samara has her own son, but other than that, she has 9 other children that are only hers through DNA. Her sister Sarah has 12 – with one more on the way. The two have given the ultimate gift to families who are struggling with infertility.

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Infertility, IVF, UK

UK – Forty Years Since First Live Birth From IVF

Source: North County Leader

This year marks the 40th birthday of the first ever IVF baby Louise Brown. IVF has changed significantly since 1978.

In the early days of IVF, women had to be admitted to clinics for a long period of time for treatment while treatments such as egg donation, egg sharing, sperm sharing, specific fertility drugs, dedicated lab equipment, catheters, ICSI needles and many things taken for granted in modern day IVF treatments, were all unheard of in 1978.

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