Tag: surrogacy

Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

How to Find a Surrogate Mother

Intended Parents

Source Fatherly.com

A surrogate mother is a woman who carries and delivers a baby on behalf of a couple. That makes surrogacy a multifaceted arrangement with a number of medical and legal implications, both for the surrogate mother and the parents. And those implications don’t even include the tricky task of finding a surrogate mother to carry the baby.

“The surrogate can be a person that the couple knows and they recruited themselves, like a sister, or somebody from the family, or a childhood friend,” explains Elena Trukhacheva, MD, MSCI, who is the medical director of Reproductive Medicine Institute in Chicago. “Most of the time, a surrogate is recruited by the surrogacy agency. And the couple uses the surrogacy agency kind of as a middleman, to navigate the process and protect them, to some extent.”

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China, Surrogacy

China – Court Orders Mother To Return $1.4 Million in Surrogacy Money

Intended Parents

Source Sixth Tone

A court in China’s central Hunan province has ordered a woman to return the money she received for her surrogacy — a controversial case that highlights the murky legalities in the country surrounding the practice.

In a verdict announced last month but only made public Friday, the Tianxin District People’s Court in Changsha demanded Zeng Meili return the 10 million yuan ($1.44 million) from Peng Shimin — both pseudonyms used by the court due to privacy concerns — for delivering twin boys in 2013. Peng’s wife had filed a lawsuit against Zeng and her husband in 2016 asking the court to retrieve the money Peng spent from their joint financial account. The wife said she was unaware of the surrogacy as well as the birth of the twins.

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Ireland, Surrogacy

Irish surrogacy rates are world’s second-highest

Intended Parents

Source The Times

Ireland has been found to have the second-highest rate of surrogacy use, according to a survey involving 90 countries. The Irish government is planning to ban all commercial surrogacy as part of its Assisted Human Reproduction Bill.

The survey — carried out last year by Families Through Surrogacy (FTS), an international non-profit organisation that supports couples going through the process — reveals Ireland is second only to Israel in the rate of use of surrogacy.

Families Through Surrogacy based its finding on the answers given by 30 agencies in nine countries dealing with clients from 90 nations. It found that 68% of surrogacies carried out for Irish couples took place in Ukraine.

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Canada, Surrogacy

How Canada became an international surrogacy destination

Intended Parents

Source The Globe and Mail

Here’s an arresting statistic: Almost half of the babies born to Canadian surrogates in the province of British Columbia in 2016 and 2017 were for intended parents who lived outside the country. That’s 45 of the 102 babies born to surrogates there – 44 per cent.

What’s the national tally on such outbound babies? We don’t know. Rather, we aren’t told. The number could presumably be calculated, since individual physicians carry out the procedures and bill for them, and provinces issue birth certificates. But the information is not publicly available. Then again, we should hardly be surprised: In Canada, we don’t even know the total number of babies born to surrogates for any parent, Canadian or otherwise. I and others have been asking around for some time now.

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Crowdfunding Appeal , Surrogacy, UK

‘We’re appealing for help to pay for a surrogacy and make our dream of becoming parents come true’

Intended Parents

Source Manchester Evening News

A couple have launched an online crowdfunding appeal to pay for a surrogate to make their dream of becoming parents come true.

Jamie Potts and her partner Mike, who live in Eccles, Salford, long for a child of their own and have been trying to start a family for years.

But complications with Jamie’s health mean she is unable to carry a baby herself. Now, she has taken to the gofundme fundraising platform to appeal for donations from the public.

The 36-year-old has been through two rounds of IVF, and both her and Mike, 26, have endured heartache after heartache after each attempt failed.

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Adoption, New Zealand, Surrogacy

New Zealand – Toni Street slams ‘outdated’ surrogacy adoption process and spurs PM to promise ‘fixing’ the law

Intended Parents

Source TVNZ

Broadcaster Toni Street has elicited a promise from the prime minister that updating adoption laws is on the Government’s agenda after the media personality posted on social media about having difficulty adopting her biological son born via a surrogate.

Street wrote in an Instagram post that she had signed a change.org petition for the New Zealand Adoption Act to be updated.

“It is incredibly hard for loving parents to adopt in this country and our vulnerable children deserve better,” she wrote. 

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

IVF Was the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done, and I Want to Do It Again

Intended Parents

Source PopSugar

Nothing could have prepared me for how hard the IVF process is. No amount of chats with my doctor or time spent online reading other women’s stories were enough to truly help me understand what it would be like. Kind of like how I couldn’t really know what parenthood involved just because my coworker had a baby. Nope, it wasn’t until I went through IVF that I learned just how much the experience would test me physically and emotionally. From that first blood test that measured my hormone levels to the day I got my pregnancy test results, I would be pushed to the brink of what my mind and body could handle. And yet, knowing what I know now, I would still do it again. In fact, I want to do it again.

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Europe, Surrogacy

The Surprising Answer To Where In The World Surrogacy Is (Il)Legal (European Edition)

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

Europe is way behind America in allowing people to grow their families through assisted reproductive technology

Here in the United States, we have a patchwork of laws, or a lack of laws, that vary from state to state. While California and Nevada, for example, have helpful and inclusive surrogacy-specific legislation, Michigan and Arizona have anti-surrogacy legislation. Many states fall in the middle with no law, or partially helpful or unhelpful laws. The Empire State, surprising us all, is among the states unhelpful for hopeful parents. Legislation was recently proposed to bring New York into the 21st century, but for now, it’s still pending. Thankfully, at least the District of Columbia, Washington state, and New Jersey all passed pro-surrogacy laws in the last 18 months. Hopefully New York will follow suit.

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India, Surrogacy

India – Embracing surrogacy

Intended Parents

Source Asian Age

Lisa Ray recently introduced her twin daughters to the world and has been as open about her journey towards motherhood, as she was about her battle against cancer. With a large number of celebrities conceiving their children via surrogacy, it seems to have become a trend. Bollywood stars like Shahrukh and Gauri Khan, Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder, Sohail and Seema Khan are no strangers to this procedure. Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker and Cristiano Ronaldo also adopted the method. We find out what makes surrogacy so desirable.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

My Pregnancy Struggle Came to an End When My Cousin Agreed to Be My Gestational Carrier

Intended Parents

Source People

I didn’t always know I wanted to have kids, or even get married. I’m an independent, free-spirited type — but something changed when I married Michael. He’s an amazing teacher and I loved seeing him with kids; the thought of starting a family together excited me. We first started “trying/not trying” soon after we got married at 31, but I told Michael we may have issues; at 14 years old I had been hospitalized with endometriosis. I thought getting pregnant might be a challenge and figured it could take a year or two to conceive. I never imagined it would take close to a decade, or that we wouldn’t use my body to carry the baby.

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South Africa, Surrogacy

South Africa – Everything you need to know about surrogacy in SA

Intended Parents

Source Destiny Connect

You may be considering a surrogate for different medical reasons, or it could be because you’ve been struggling to fall pregnant through assisted reproduction techniques like IVF.

Surrogacy gives people who might be ineligible to adopt a child because of their age or because they’re single and same-sex couples a shot at parenthood.

It might not be as prevalent as it is in the USA, but more South Africans are making enquiries and engaging with the practice more and more.

The legislation that governs surrogacy in the country, the Children’s Act, is, however, very strict and clear about what is permissible.

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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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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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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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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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Israel, Surrogacy

Israel – Is the push for surrogacy rights a humanitarian cause?

Intended Parents

Source Israel National News

 

The demand to expand surrogacy for male couples has been described by some in recent weeks to be a humanitarian cause, but the issue is a lot more complex underneath the surface.

A study conducted by Dr. Etty Samma revealed certain aspects on the phenomenon of surrogacy that are generally ignored by the Israeli media.

“With some of the women who agreed to this, and with the approval of the Ethics Committee, I conducted in-depth interviews and talked about the process they underwent,” explained Dr. Samma.

“The interviews dealt with more than 100 surrogacy procedures, both parents and surrogates.”

Dr. Samma discovered that in fact a good number perhaps most don’t finish the surrogacy until birth.

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Canada, Surrogacy

Canada – How to fix Quebec’s surrogacy laws

Intended Parents

Source National Magazine

Though surrogacy is legal in Canada, surrogacy contracts are mostly deemed unenforceable throughout the country. In Quebec, they are qualified as “absolutely null” under the Civil Code’s article 541. That means that in Quebec a woman who agrees to carry a child for another individual or intended parents is deemed a threat to public order. So the contract, whether verbal or in written form, may not be enforced. But in an article recently published in the Canadian Bar Review, McGill University’s Stefanie Carsley notes that lawmakers have largely failed at dissuading people from taking the risk of entering surrogacy arrangements. Intended parents in the province have sought ways around the unenforceability issue by applying to the courts for legal status through adoption – more specifically through special adoption. This allows one birth parent to maintain their bond of filiation while their spouse adopts the child. Carsley reviews recent Quebec case law addressing article 541 and concludes that the province’s legal framework is failing all parties.