Tag: UK

Surrogacy, UK

UK – NHS hospital must pay for woman to have surrogate baby in America after doctors failed to spot her cervical cancer for more than four years as Supreme Court awards her £1.14m damages in landmark ruling

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

A hospital must pay for the cost of a young woman’s surrogacy in America after she was left infertile because her cervical cancer was not spotted for more than four years by doctors, the Supreme Court has ruled. 

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust in London, UK, admits negligently failing to detect signs of cancer for over four years.

This negligence led to the woman, known only as XX, developing highly invasive cancer that required chemo-radiotherapy treatment, leaving her infertile at the age of 29.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – Women left infertile due to clinical negligence could claim for surrogacy abroad following landmark ruling

Intended Parents

Source The Telegraph

Family lawyers claim the Supreme Court ruling could pave the way for other hopeful mothers in the UK.

Women left infertile as a result of clinical negligence could be able to claim for surrogacy costs abroad following a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

A woman, who can only be legally identified as XX, has been awarded the costs of having surrogate children in America following a new ruling which family lawyers claim could pave the way for other hopeful mothers in the UK.

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Donor Eggs, UK

Uk – Mothers ‘are less responsive’ to donor egg babies

Intended Parents

Source The Times

Women who use donor eggs to conceive are less responsive to their babies, according to research.

Scientists from Cambridge University reported “subtle yet meaningful” differences between mothers whose children came from donor eggs and mothers whose IVF babies came from their own eggs. The mothers made slightly less eye contact with their babies and responded less to their games, researchers said, although all the parents in the study had a strong and loving bond with the children. Susan Imrie from the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge, who co-authored the research, said: “We do know from other research that genetic relationships hold different significance to different people.”

In 2016 about 1,400 babies born in Britain were from donor eggs. The number has tripled since 1996.

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Surrogacy, UK

Grandmother, 55, Gives Birth to Her Own Granddaughter

Intended Parents

Source The Epoch Times

A British woman gave birth to her own grand-daughter at the age of 55, after acting as a surrogate for her daughter who was born without a womb.

Emma Miles is legally the mother of her own granddaughter Evie, who was conceived by IVF.

Her daughter, Tracey Smith, 31, had known since the age of 15 that if she wanted her own child, she would need a surrogate. She had no womb, but still had ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Over the years, her mother had mentioned the possibility that she could act as a surrogate, but it wasn’t until Smith got married in 2016 that it became a serious prospect.

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Canada, Surrogacy, UK

This English same-sex couple fathered twins who are half-siblings — and a Canadian surrogate helped them Social Sharing

Intended Parents

Source CBC

With two kids under two, the Berney-Edwards household in southeast England is a busy one. There are toddlers running all over the place. One pokes his dad in the eye and laughs before accidentally hitting his sister with a toy vacuum cleaner, causing her to wail. It can be a bit chaotic.  

But Graeme and Simon Berney-Edwards wouldn’t have it any other way. As gay men, there was a time when they thought they could never have any of that.

Now, however, they have their twins, the result of an arrangement involving a Canadian surrogate and Canadian surrogacy laws they feel are more progressive than those on the books in the United Kingdom.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – ‘It’s been the greatest honor of my life’: Selfless mom becomes a surrogate for strangers MONTHS after giving birth to her own twins – having seen a friend go through a devastating miscarriage

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

A selfless mother decided to become a surrogate after she witnessed the pain of her friend’s miscarriage whilst she was expecting twins herself so she can enable couples the ultimate joy of becoming parents – something she calls the ‘greatest honor’ of her life.

Tierra Nelson, 23, from Saint Cloud, Minnesota, and fiance, Marty, always knew that they wanted to be parents when the time was right and after six months of trying to conceive were delighted to find out they were expecting twins, Isabella and Claire, who were born in October 2016, weighing 6lb 11oz and 6lb 12oz at 37 weeks.

Soon after discovering she was pregnant, Tierra found out that one of her closest friends was also expecting and they were both delighted. But this delight soon turned into heartbreak as Tierra’s friend sadly suffered a miscarriage. 

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Gay Parenting, Surrogacy, UK

UK – Miracle Twins Each Have Different Fathers & Their Dads Wouldn’t Want It Any Other Way

Intended Parents

Source Cafe mom

Typically, when we think of in vitro fertilization, we imagine one sperm sample that gets implanted into an egg, but for two dads from London, they are thanking modern medicine for allowing them both the opportunity to be the genetic parents of their babies — at the same time. Fathers Simon and Graeme Berney-Edwards were stunned when doctors told them that they didn’t have to choose between the two of them as to who would get to become a father first and helped them to conceive miracle twins. Both men were able to fertilize donor embryos and implant them into the same surrogate’s womb at the same time. Now, they’re sharing their story with the world to show how advancements in fertility medicine have changed their lives.
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Gay Parenting, IVF, UK

Gay male couple to be offered IVF on NHS for ‘first time in Britain’

Intended Parents

Source Pink News

A gay couple in Scotland have been offered IVF treatment by the NHS for what is believed to be the first time in the UK.

The married couple plan to have a baby via IVF, using the sperm of one of the men and a surrogate mother to carry the child, reportsThe Mail on Sunday. The newspaper has chosen to keep the identity of the gay couple, who are married, anonymous.

The NHS will fund the IVF fertilisation process and the embryo being implanted into the surrogate mother.

The NHS has previously refused to give gay male couples the treatment because of a “blanket ban” on funding treatment that involves use of a surrogate, reports the Mail on Sunday.

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Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother, UK

UK – Most surrogates want to give up their parental rights from BIRTH, reveals survey

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Surrogates remain the baby’s legal mother until a parental order is granted, which can take months.

But a survey has now revealed 69 per cent of surrogate mothers feel the law – which has existed since 1990 – should be changed.

Surrogacy UK, a support network, has described the law as being ‘outdated and in dire need of reform’.

The current laws are under review by the Law Commission, which is to publish its updated proposals in the coming weeks.

The survey by Surrogacy UK was conducted on 102 surrogate mothers, The Times reports.   

Only two of the women who were polled revealed they thought they should be the legal parents at birth. 

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Surrogacy, UK

Court Awards Damages To Go Do Something Illegal — To Pursue Compensated Surrogacy In A Country Where It Is Permitted

Intended Parents

Source Above The Law

A court in England awarded a woman damages so that she could undergo surrogacy in the United States up to four times! The 35-year-old British woman, known only as “XX” in court filings in order to preserve her anonymity — possibly because she works for MI-5, we’ll never know — permanently lost her ability to conceive after the National Health Services (NHS) failed to detect her early signs of cancer. What was a “benign, treatable pre-cancerous condition” developed into malignant cancer, which spread in her body and caused permanent damage to her uterus and ovaries, among other organs.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – Commercial surrogacy: lifting legal restrictions is the moral thing to do to help people trying to have babies

Intended Parents

Source The Conversation

When it comes to the controversial issue of surrogate motherhood – and, in particular, payment for such services – the law in the UK needs to be reviewed. So says Sir James Munby, the most senior judge in the Family Division in England and Wales until his retirement in 2017.

Many others including myself have been arguing this for years. It is a commonly held view – often repeated in the media – that commercial surrogate motherhood is illegal and that payment to a surrogate mother is a criminal offence. This is not the case.

Under the Surrogacy Arrangements Act (1985), it is not illegal for a couple to pay a surrogate to carry a baby for them and it is not illegal for the mother to accept payment. However, it is illegal for any other person to take or offer money in relation to surrogate motherhood.

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IVF costs, UK

UK – Two-thirds of fertility patients feel ripped off by IVF clinics

Intended Parents

Source Bio News

Sixty-two percent of private IVF patients paid ‘more than they expected’ for treatment, according to the first national patient survey by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

The UK fertility regulator released annual statistics showing that 60 percent of IVF cycles are now privately funded and that 74 percent of patients over the past two years paid for one or more ‘add-on’ treatments, up from 66 percent in the previous two years.

‘Patients often feel pressure to opt for add-ons and many are understandably keen to explore every option to improve their chances of having a baby, but such treatments should only be offered where there is proof they work’ said the HFEA’s Chair, Sally Cheshire.

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IVF, UK

UK – You shouldn’t have to move to Scotland to get the IVF you need to have a baby

Intended Parents

Source Metro UK

Mark* has known since he was a teenager that becoming a father would not be straightforward.

At 16, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and treatment for this left him infertile. Luckily though, he was able to store sperm before he began his cancer treatment – giving him the hope of fatherhood in the future. However, despite his clinical need, Mark is being denied access to NHS fertility treatment because the body that plans and controls health care services where he lives – West Sussex – sets its own arbitrary criteria for who can and can’t access it.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – I’m trying for sweet 16! Surrogate mother, 52, vows baby number 15 will not be her last 

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Carole Horlock had said baby number 15 would be her last.

But at 52, Britain’s most prolific surrogate mother is hoping to have her 16th.

She is currently looking for couples or single mothers and aims to become pregnant early in the new year.

If successful, Miss Horlock will give birth just before her 53rd birthday – making her the world’s oldest commercial surrogate.

She said: ‘I’m determined to get pregnant one last time with a surrogate baby and I’m actively searching for a couple or single mother to help.

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IVF, Side Effects, UK

UK – One woman a week suffers a deadly IVF side effect: Ovary stimulation syndrome hits a seven-year high as hopeful mothers battle kidney failure, blood clots and breathing problems

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail

Severe illness caused by powerful IVF drugs has hit a seven-year high, with almost 800 women rushed to hospital in the last five years.

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, or OHSS, causes women’s ovaries to expand dangerously and in severe cases can leave victims fighting to breathe with blood clots in their lungs. 

A new report from a fertility regulator reveals 52 women were diagnosed with severe or critical OHSS in 2017-18.
The statistics raise concern that fertility clinics are giving women high doses of drugs to boost their ovaries so they produce more than the normal one egg a month.

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Surrogacy, UK

Legal system may lead many UK parents abroad to find a surrogate

Intended Parents

Source Eurek Alert

As more and more parents travel overseas to find a surrogate, a new study published in Human Fertility is the first to compare the experiences of those who carry out surrogacy in the UK with those who go abroad. The research highlights important problems faced by parents, which could influence UK surrogacy law.
A new study is the first to compare the experiences of people who have carried out surrogacy in the UK with those who go overseas, for example, to countries such as USA, India and Georgia. The research, led by Dr Vasanti Jadva at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with NGA Law and Brilliant Beginnings, surveyed over 200 people who had either already had a child through a surrogate, were in the process, or were planning a surrogacy arrangement.

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sister surrogate mother, UK

UK – SISTER SURROGATE  Woman acting as a surrogate for her sister reveals her children ‘hate’ her for carrying a baby ‘because it’s not their sibling’

Intended Parents

Source The Sun

A WOMAN acting as a surrogate for her sister has claimed her three children “hate” her for carrying a baby that’s not their sibling.

Writing in the Parenting forum on Reddit, the user Kelsey_Hyl revealed how her sister suffered a prolapsed uterus after the birth of her first child.

Describing her sister’s heartbreak, the user wrote: “She had to have prolapse surgery to remove her womb [after childbirth] which meant she couldn’t have any more children.”

The mum-of-three described how her sister was left “devastated” by the news and fell into a depression afterwards.

A year after her sister’s surgery, the woman offered to carry a baby for her and added that her sibling was “thrilled with the idea and fully on board with it”.

Now carrying her sister’s second child, the woman admitted that her husband wasn’t so keen on the idea at first but said “if it’s what [she] wanted to do then so be it”.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – Surrogacy isn’t about money. But the law must change to benefit women

Intended Parents

Source The Guardian

One of the UK’s most senior family judges, James Munby, has called for the UK to relax the rules against paying surrogates. His comments are spot-on: the law needs to catch up with the realities of modern surrogacy.

For decades it has been customary in the UK for surrogates to be paid between £12,000 and £20,000. Having handled hundreds of UK surrogacy cases (not just complex and international surrogacy cases, but also routine, everyday UK cases), I have seen only a small minority where there has been no element of benefit or compensation. The family court now routinely authorises payments to surrogates of more than their expenses, both explicitly in the high court and implicitly in the magistrates’ court, where sums are accepted at face value. The case law makes clear that payments will always be authorised after the event where this is in the child’s best interests. There has never been a case where an order transferring parenthood has been refused.

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Surrogacy, UK

UK – Let women be paid to be surrogate mums, says top family judge as he insists it is fine to become a mother in your 60s

Intended Parents

Source Daily Mail


Britain should lift the ban on payments to surrogate mothers, the former head of the family court has told The Mail on Sunday.

In a wide-ranging interview, Sir James Munby also defended the right of women in their 50s and 60s to have children because ‘today’s 60 is like yesterday’s 40’. And reflecting on dramatic changes in society, he spoke of how those who have ‘gone down the surrogacy or same-sex marriage route’ are no longer treated as ‘people with horns’.

Sir James, the most senior family court judge in England and Wales before his retirement in July, said serious consideration should be given to abolishing restrictions on commercial surrogacy.

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