Ireland, Same Sex

Ireland – ‘I’m a non-entity on my child’s birth cert’ – Same sex couples still facing legal limbo

Source News Talk

Same-sex couples are still facing legal hurdles to be named as parents to their children, despite changes that have come into force.

Couples who conceive through IVF or surrogacy can find themselves in legal limbo with no parental rights, despite new laws that came into effect last year.

Ranae Von Meding and her wife Audrey have two daughters – Ava and Arya – who were conceived through reciprocal IVF.

This means the couple used Audrey’s eggs and donor sperm while Ranae carried the pregnancies.

Read more

Same Sex, Surrogacy

Gay Singaporean man wins landmark appeal to adopt surrogate child

Source BBC

A gay Singaporean man has won a landmark court case which will allow him to adopt a child he fathered through a surrogate.

The man, 46, and his long-term partner carried out the process in the US at a cost of $200,000 (£159,000), as surrogacy is illegal in Singapore.

He tried to legally adopt the child but the bid was rejected last year, leaving him with no legal parental rights.

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Singapore and gay sex is illegal.

The four-year-old child is considered illegitimate in the eyes of the law as the surrogate mother and biological father are not married.

Read more

Germany, Same Sex

Same-sex German couples forced abroad for fertility treatments

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.

Read more

Italy, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Italian minister takes aim at same-sex couples who seek surrogacy abroad

Source The Guardian

Italy’s families minister has said same-sex couples who have children via surrogacy abroad should not be recognised as legal guardians.

In a sign that he may make it increasingly difficult for gay people to become parents, Lorenzo Fontana, who is from the far-right League party, told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday: “The current family law situation cannot fail to take account of what has been happening in recent months on the issue of the recognition of parenthood, with the registration of children conceived abroad by couples of the same sex via the use of practices that are banned by our laws and should stay so.”

Read more

Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Outdated Irish passports laws mean gay couple’s son denied

Source Irish Central


An Irish-Canadian couple are outraged after being denied an Irish passport for their young son.

Jay O’Callaghan and Aaron O’Bryan told a local news channel that they will not be granted an Irish passport for their son Jake unless they identify the child’s biological father. Doing so would leave the other with no parental rights in Ireland.

The Toronto-based couple said that they both provided sperm to fertilize the donor egg that was implanted in the surrogate who gave birth to their son.

The couple chose not to find out whose genetic material was passed on to Jake.

Read more

Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Ireland – I’m Not Recognised As My Da0ughter’s Mother Due To ‘Modern’ Irish Family Law’

Source Extra.ie

A family have been left devastated after discovering that a law due this autumn will not grant them equal parental rights — even though their daughter is nearly two-years-old.

Same-sex couple Bex, 48, and Steffi Payne, 28, are based in Roscommon and Steffi gave birth to daughter Ava as a result of home insemination in September 2016.

When setting out on the journey to start a family, the couple decided to go down the route of using donor sperm to help them conceive.

Read more

Israel, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Israel – Netanyahu Voices Support for Surrogacy Births for Gay Men

Source Haaretz

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he supports surrogate births for gay men. He spoke at a meeting of Likud’s legislative caucus  that was closed to the media, addressing the issue after it was raised by party MK Amir Ohana.

“I support surrogacy for single fathers,” Netanyahu said. He said he favored amending the law during the current Knesset session if possible, but if not, he said it should be done later on, via reservations to an amendment bill that Ohana raised last week, to permit surrogacy procedures for same-sex couples. 

Read more

Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Ireland – Same sex couples to be allowed to register names on child’s passport and birth cert

Source Irish Times

Bill to fix drafting errors in 2015 Act will also ban anonymous sperm, egg donations

Same sex parents will finally be able to register both their names on their child’s birth certificate after the introduction of a Bill to amend drafting errors in previous legislation.

The Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill will also ban anonymous sperm and egg donation in fertility treatment and will allow children born through donor assisted human reproduction access to their genetic heritage once they turn 18.

Provisions for the ban and a register to allow children access to their personal family information were contained in the Children and Family Relationships Act passed in 2015

Read more

Same Sex, Single women, Surrogacy

Israel – Netanyahu Rejected Request to Consider Allowing Surrogates for Single Men, Same-sex Couples

Source Haaretz

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman refused a request from Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to consider including single men and same-sex couples in proposed legislation allowing single women to use surrogacy services.
Litzman told the attorney general he believed the version of the government-sponsored bill that was approved by a Knesset committee this week, clearing the way for its approval by the legislature, should stand.

Read more

Cryogenic storage failure, Egg Donor, Same Sex, Surrogate Mother

Two dads, an egg donor and a surrogate: How a freezer failure changed everything

Source CNN

San Francisco, California (CNN) — Their first date was over lunch during a Proposition 8 protest, where they joined hundreds of others railing against the passage of California’s same-sex marriage ban. The two men took a break from demonstrating, threw their hearts on the table and talked about their desire to have kids.

So it was somehow appropriate that in June 2013, nearly five years later, Bill Taroli and Yang Li stood in a delivery room and welcomed their son, Henry, one day before the US Supreme Court overturned Prop 8. A couple weeks later, with their newborn in their arms, they exchanged vows and were legally married.

Read more

Same Sex, Surrogacy

Unsung Heroes: Surrogate Mothers to Same-Sex Couples

Source Advocate

Let’s give a nod to the women who simultaneously help queer people start families and move the needle on tolerance.

I loved my small-town upbringing, but even in that somewhat sheltered environment I always had a curiosity about other places, other people, and other experiences. Now as a gay fertility doctor often working with LGBT people to build their families, it’s rewarding to see the effect this LGBT family-building is having on changing the perspective about our community in small towns across the country.

Much of that change comes from an unlikely place.

What I have learned in my work is that everyone involved in gay family-building becomes an ambassador for change. The gay parents, their family, and their child all open hearts and minds simply by living their lives.

Read more

Same Sex, Surrogacy

The BBC is the cheerleader for same-sex surrogacy

Source Conservative Woman

Olympic diver Tom Daley and his ‘husband’ were adorned with sashes bearing the slogan ‘Daddy to be’ as they ‘celebrated the imminent arrival of their son with a baby shower’. Later Daley told the Andrew Marr Show: ‘The laws in the UK are different to the US. If a surrogate carries a baby, UK law recognises the surrogate and her partner as the parents.’ At present, the ‘commissioning couple’ has to apply for a parental order, but Daley was not asked how he would change the law. BBC Radio 5 Live also devoted a full hour to surrogacy without addressing the fact that these children are deprived of their biological mothers or fathers.

Read more

Parental rights, Same Sex, Surrogacy

Gay people using a surrogate have to put time and effort into planning parenthood

Source DevonLive

I wish people who disapprove of the decision by Plymouth diver Tom Daley and his partner Dustin Lance Black to have a baby by surrogacy, would just shut up.

The most common criticism, apart from plain old prejudice, is that the baby will suffer from not having a mother.

Unlike some heterosexual couples who accidentally have babies, or decide on a whim, same-sex couples are almost certainly going to discuss and plan their children at length

Read more

Malta, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law

Pro-life group tears into proposed changes to IVF law

Source Malta Today
The Life Network Foundation says new law will create ethical and legal problems for children born from in-vitro fertilisation

A pro-life group has raised concerns over proposed changes to the Embryo Protection Act, which it says gives short shrift to the legal and ethical issues involved.

Life Network Foundation chairperson, Miriam Sciberras, was critical of changes that will change the definition of prospective parents, the introduction of anonymous gamete donation and embryo freezing.

Sciberras also criticised the proposal to start a consultation process on altruistic surrogacy. She said surrogacy turned women into objects and ignored the importance of the bond that develops during pregnancy between the mother and the child.

The wider definition of parents would allow, among others, single women to make use of in-vitro fertilisation treatment. The changes also propose the introduction of anonymous sperm and egg donation.

Read more

Parental rights, Same Sex

Guess This Week’s Craziest State In Assisted Reproductive Technology Law: Mississippi Or Arizona?

Source Above The Law

Did you guess Mississippi? Wrong. Your assumptions about the Magnolia State notwithstanding, last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a strong, well-reasoned opinion that reversed a lower court decision that would have created trouble for hopeful parents in Mississippi. The lower court had ruled that an anonymous sperm donor was in fact the legal parent of a child, even though that would have meant displacing one of the women (of a same-sex female couple) who had raised him. Yay, Mississippi! A victory for both families and LGBT individuals.

Read more

Gay Parenting, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

UK – ‘I wanted to give people the joy I have with my kids’: Selfless mother, 29, who was a surrogate for a same-sex couple, donates eggs to help childless people to become parents

Source Daily Mail

A 29-year-old mother has spoken candidly about her gracious decision to help couples struggling to conceive by donating her eggs.

Cassie Lake, from Tinonee on the Mid North Coast of NSW, wanted to share the joys of parenthood after having a family of her own.

And so she started helping childless families by donating her eggs, and eventually, she went on to become a surrogate for a same-sex couple.
The idea to donate her eggs sprung into mind after she tragically suffered a miscarriage with her fourth baby at 10 weeks pregnant in 2015.

Read more

Same Sex, Sperm Donor Rights

Mississippi court overturns decision recognizing sperm donor in lesbian child-custody case

Source Think Progress

The Mississippi Supreme Court has recognized the parental rights of both moms in a separated lesbian couple. While several other states have resolved similar issues raised by marriages that were not originally recognized, the Mississippi case instead reflected a concern about whether an anonymous sperm donor should be recognized as a parent.

Chris Strickland and Kimberly Jayroe Strickland Day married in 2009 in Massachusetts, and in 2011, Day gave birth to their son, Z.S., in Mississippi. Because their marriage was not recognized at the time, Strickland was not listed on her son’s birth certificate. The couple separated in 2013, but only formally divorced in 2016, after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in favor of marriage equality nationwide.

Read more

egg donor children, Same Sex, Sperm Donor Children, surrogate children

How To Answer The Question ‘Mum, Mama…. Where Did I Come From?’

Source QNews Magazine

“Won’t someone think of the children?” cried the far right during the recent plebiscite, where the nation was invited to vote on the validity of our families.
One of the biggest cannons aimed against marriage equality was the idea that our relationships — and conception! — couldn’t be discussed with children.

I can’t speak for the rest of my allies in the LGBTIQ community, but I have been thinking of the children for a long time. Not only have I spent my career in the classroom, educating children, I have longed for a family of my own since I can remember.

Read more

Gay Parenting, Gestational surrogacy, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogate Parents

These two gay papas are showing why gay surrogacy is beautiful

Source GAY STAR NEWS

Meet Papas Manuel from Spain and Bud from New Jersey. Together they run the Two Gay Papas Instagram posting the most adorable family pictures with four-year-old Álvaro and two-year-old Carmen

With over 50K followers, we are not the only the only ones loving the adorable pictures they post.

Living in Spain where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2005, and the two dads have the kids through surrogacy.

The Two Gay Papas story starts as a blog in 2012 to chronicle their surrogacy journey. Now they use Instagram create positive stories about LGBT families with their day to day life.

Read more

Gay Parenting, intended parents, Law, Parental rights, Same Sex, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

New Uniform Parentage Act Becomes Law in Washington State

Source: The Humanist

Earlier this week, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington signed into law an updated version of the state’s Uniform Parentage Act. Written to safeguard the rights of LGBTQ and non-biological parents, the new law defines a “de facto” parent as well as allows compensation beyond medical and other expenses for surrogate mothers.

According to the law’s sponsor, state Senator Jamie Pedersen, who has four children with his husband conceived through surrogacy, the bill will help parents who want to have a child through surrogacy at home in Washington State, rather than leaving the state. (Pedersen and his husband had their children in California where compensated surrogacy is already allowed.)

Read more