NODAL.com, an online platform launched last week, is a new high-tech solution designed to make the surrogacy matching process more accessible and more affordable for surrogates and intended parents. To…
The largest private employer in the United States, Walmart, just announced new employee benefits designed to aid pregnant workers whose lives may be endangered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic…
While sperm counts in men have dropped drastically over the last 50 years, causing more and more men to face infertility issues, the stigma surrounding male infertility continues to shame…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case establishing women’s constitutional right to choose, had an obvious…
Tunisia, a country once considered a leading advocate for women’s rights in the Arab world, now faces criticism as single women, constrained by an outdated law, demand the right to…
On June 22, California Congressmembers Adam Schiff and Judy Chu introduced a bill that would eliminate a significant inequity in the U.S. tax code and help make assisted reproduction more…
Even as some states and a growing number of corporations offer support for family-building expenses such as adoption or IVF, LGBTQ intended parents are still likely to face higher medical and legal costs than their heterosexual peers.
The Supreme Court today released a devastating abortion decision that will negatively impact millions of people and families across America. The Supreme Court's decision in the case challenging Mississippi’s abortion…
In a historic event, Chile recently welcomed its first legal same-sex marriage, joining the ranks of 30 other countries worldwide that have passed similar laws allowing same-sex marriage and, in…
Irish lawmakers tasked with drafting reform legislation to legalize and regulate surrogacy and other types of assisted reproduction in Ireland are considering a draft that would completely ignore the rights…
The media frenzy and public backlash we were all expecting later this summer came early. An unprecedented series of leaks from the U.S. Supreme Court, including the leak of a…
Thanks to improvements in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques, intended parents today often end up with more viable embryos than they are able to use. Embryo donation offers parents a solution…
With income tax time upon us, same-sex couples who hoped to deduct expenses for assisted reproductive technologies such as egg or sperm donation, in vitro fertilization or surrogacy are meeting…
The daily images of mass graves, blasted out apartment buildings and long lines of refugees attest to the terrible toll of war. Ukraine will never be the same, nor will…
Even as reproductive professionals report a shortage of egg and sperm donors, thanks to the lengthy donation process, less anonymity, and lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic, many people still…
A federal appeals court on February 22, 2022, upheld a stay on a South Carolina “fetal heartbeat” abortion law that would punish doctors who violated it with stiff fines and…
As the world watches in horror Vladimir Putin’s attack on the democratic republic of Ukraine, all of us are pondering the impact of this terrible, historic war. Certainly few are…
If the story of the 16-year-old U.S. figure skating phenom nearly sidelined from the Beijing Olympics by a COVID diagnosis wasn’t dramatic enough, the story of Alysa Liu’s heritage is…
In 1978, in England, Louise Brown, the first child made outside the womb, was born. Over the course of the next few years, babies like Louise were labeled as “test…
As assisted reproductive technology (ART) becomes an increasingly common and accepted way of creating families, a growing movement calls for ART to be available to anyone who needs it, regardless…
Demand for fertility treatment by single women, lesbians creates delays under new French law on reproductive rights.
Often at this time of year, I find myself thinking about years past, how blessed I have been to work in a field that still fills me with passion, and…
The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new critical area of questions to consider in matching intended parents and potential surrogates: COVID vaccination status—is the surrogate vaccinated? Do the intended parents…
As an onslaught of state anti-abortion legislation threatens U.S. women’s rights, including an onerous new Texas law that effectively bans all abortions even in cases of rape or incest, New…
With the recent lifting of COVID-19-related travel bans, effective in November 2021, as well as long-needed reforms to U.S. naturalization procedures, most intended parents who travel abroad for IVF and…
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an official Health Advisory yesterday (September 29) recommending that pregnant, recently pregnant or lactating women and those trying or planning…
As global birth rates decline, raising concerns about shrinking labor forces and falling GDPs, Japan’s government is trying to make it easier for workers to become parents by offering paid…
Since the COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020, demand for fertility services has skyrocketed. Fertility clinics and IVF providers report a recent rush on services, the result of a “perfect storm”…
Swiss voters will decide September 26 whether to legalize same-sex marriage, a change in the law that also would give lesbian couples access to donor sperm and same-sex couples the…
A proposed law now before Congress would guarantee parents who undergo failure of fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) or surrogacy, as well as those who lose babies…
Currently pending before Congress is legislation that would offer an expanded range of fertility treatment services to U.S. veterans, including to many LGBTQ+ veterans who have previously been denied equal…
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed a brief on July 22 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a woman’s right to…
Several companies now offer a new type of genetic screening to determine which embryos created with in vitro fertilization have a higher risk of developing common diseases such as diabetes…
A coalition of women’s health organizations and advocates is challenging the onerous new Texas abortion ban, due to take effect in September, by suing the judges, county clerks and professional…
The government of Israel must end its ban on surrogacy for gay men and single men within six months, the nation’s top court ruled on July 11. The ruling follows…
France, Switzerland vote for LGBTQ reproductive rights in win for fertility equality movement during Pride Month 2021
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently ruled that lesbian mom LaNesha Matthews, who gave birth to twin daughters created by “reciprocal IVF” with her then partner Kyresha LeFever some 10…
Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in support of a Philadelphia Catholic foster agency that refuses to place children in LGBTQ-parented households does not give organizations the right to discriminate based…
More than a third of transgender people—who constitute an estimated 0.7 percent of the U.S. population—want to have biological children—either right now, or in the future. Yet, according to a…
As we begin LGBTQ Pride Month, I am proud to recommend a great new book, Love Comes First: Creating LGBTQ Families, by Dr. Bradford Kolb, MD, and Melinda Maerker, with…
In this Fertility Café podcast, I join host Eloise Drane of Family Inceptions to discuss surrogacy and what intended parents and surrogates need to know about preparing legally for…
I was delighted recently to be a featured guest on Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC’s podcast, “3 Things to Know with Stephanie Haney,” in which the host and I discussed egg…
Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, already growing in popularity as a way to preserve fertility against disease and to postpone childbearing for career reasons, has exploded during the COVID-19 era.…
The U.S. Supreme Court announced May 17 that it will hear the case challenging a Mississippi abortion law that, if upheld, would effectively overturn Roe v. Wade. The Mississippi law,…
We at IFLG, our colleagues in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and advocates for families everywhere are celebrating a long-awaited victory today: The U.S. State Department has officially…
As more people use assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and cryopreservation to become parents, more conflicts over the treatment and disposition of unused embryos are ending…
Arizona has passed a broad-based law that makes it a felony for a physician to perform an abortion because of a fetal genetic abnormality or for anyone to fund an…
Congratulations to NBC co-chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker and her husband, marketing executive John Hughes, who announced recently on NBC’s Today Show that they are expecting a baby daughter…
Colorado is poised to sign into law the state’s first comprehensive surrogacy statute, establishing requirements for legally enforceable surrogacy. Surrogacy law in the United States varies widely from state-to-state, from…
The recent pandemic-related surge in in vitro fertilization will inevitably contribute to a growing number of legal disputes over the disposition of unused embryos. The best way to avoid what…
