U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced legislation to protect every American’s right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) that millions of Americans need to have children.
Curiosity in the modern age of easily purchased and self-administered DNA testing kits has uncovered a dark side in the fertility world, which has not only gained national attention in…
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…
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,…
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…
I was honored to join Rebecca Hochreiter of GoStork.com, an online resource for intended parents, for an Instagram Live discussion on “How Surrogacy Law Impacts Your Journey.” Rebecca is a…
On February 2, 2021, just a little over a year after it initially approved a law to legalize in vitro fertilization for lesbians and single women, the French Senate voted…
Michigan couple Tammy and Jordan Myers, biological parents of twins born via surrogacy January 11, must adopt their own babies in order to become their legal parents. That’s because little…
Nineteen U.S. states have enacted laws that require insurance companies to offer coverage for in vitro fertilization and other types of fertility treatments—a ray of hope for individuals for whom…
IFLG founder Rich Vaughn lays out the surrogacy vs. adoption pros and cons for family building. Contact IFLG today to get help from an experienced fertility lawyer.
After years of working in the fertility field, first as an agency employee and later as an assisted reproductive technology (ART) fertility lawyer, the first piece of advice I would…
New York was until recently one of a handful of U.S. states that effectively banned surrogacy entirely. As a result, many New Yorkers who suffered from infertility or who were…
Laws governing surrogacy vary widely from state to state in the U.S. Some states have enacted laws rendering surrogacy contracts unenforceable in whole or in part, and a few states…
For intended parents building a family via IVF and surrogacy, finding the right gestational surrogate is essential. Let IFLG answer all your surrogacy law questions.
While donated eggs are used in tens of thousands of assisted reproduction cycles each year in the United States—24,300 cycles in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control…
Human birth rates have been dropping for decades, over approximately the same period that assisted reproductive technology (ART) has become increasingly efficient, reliable and accessible as a family-building solution. According…
As sometimes happens, I had one of those days recently during which events seemed to highlight for me some of the most critical issues in the field of assisted reproductive…
Earlier this month a federal judge temporarily blocked a Georgia law that would effectively ban abortion in the state, the latest volley in an onslaught of new state laws designed…
Great news out of the UK! The UK Law Commission—the body that reviews outdated laws and recommends revisions to the UK government—has made provisional recommendations for reforming the United Kingdom’s…
Even as it approaches the finish line, legislation to finally end New York state’s ban on gestational surrogacy is facing vocal opposition from an unexpected source: the feminist left. We…
The state of New York on April 1 passed a measure requiring insurance policies covering employee groups of 100 or larger to include coverage of in vitro fertilization, becoming the…
I’ve spent the past few days at the American Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting in sunny Las Vegas. It is always an honor and privilege to represent the ABA Assisted Reproduction…
Colleagues in Netherlands celebrated this week the news that at least two Dutch IVF clinics plan to open their doors in 2019 to same-sex couples who want to become parents…
The identity documents required to establish parentage in California, where your baby was born via egg donation and surrogacy, may be different than what you will need if you move…
Huffington Post recently published an article by guest writer Lora Liegel about her experience as a legally married lesbian mom compelled to undergo “second-parent” adoption of her son, Finn, in…
Under a new Arizona law, in divorce cases involving frozen embryos, courts are mandated to award custody of the embryos to the “spouse who intends to allow the in vitro…
This week, April 22 through 28, is National Infertility Awareness Week (https://infertilityawareness.org/). Established by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association in 1989, the week is a collaborative effort of consumers, legislators,…
Arizona legislators just passed, and GOP Governor Doug Ducey signed into law, SB 1397, an onerous new law with potentially disastrous impacts on the lives of intended parents; on the…
For the past decade I have been involved as a member, board member, sponsor and active participant in Path2Parenthood (formerly known as the American Fertility Association), a national non-profit organization…
Nearly 30 years ago, in reaction to the notorious “Baby M” case, several states, including New Jersey, New York, Michigan and Washington, DC, banned paid surrogacy, declaring surrogacy agreements invalid.…
A July 5 ruling by the French supreme court, or Cour de cassation, has brought some clarity but not necessarily made things any easier for French intended parents seeking French…
It’s finally out, in paper and in e-version! After three years of writing, rewriting, editing, proofreading and more of the same, as I was talking to potential intended parents in…
I have the great honor of traveling next week to China and Japan to talk to members of the LGBT communities there about assisted reproductive technology and the legal considerations…
Surrogacy agreements became legal in the District of Columbia for the first time in 25 years on April 7, following Congressional approval of a statute passed by the district city…
A recent crackdown on surrogacy in the Mexican state of Tobasco has forced foreign intended parents to sue the government to receive birth certificates for their children born via surrogacy…
The wheels of progress turn slowly, and in some parts of the world, leaders stand on the brakes, bring it to a screeching halt, then do their best to roll…
Last year we applauded a decision by the European Court of Human Rights that the Italian government violated the rights of an Italian couple in removing from their home the…
In the realm of “good news/bad news,” twin boys born to a gay Italian couple via in vitro fertilization and surrogacy in California will be recognized as Italian citizens, an…
A just-issued ruling from a California appeals court upheld the legality of properly executed surrogacy agreements and stated that a properly executed surrogacy agreement does not violate the constitutional rights…
One of the most provocative issues in reproductive law is the legal status of frozen embryos—how they are disposed of, who has the right to determine how they will used,…
The sensational legal battle between actress Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiancé, Florida businessman Nick Loeb, over the disposition of the couple’s two fertilized embryos recently got even more sensational. On December…
In yet another example of the perils of too-casual sperm donor arrangements, a gay Canadian man who donated sperm to help a medical school friend conceive more than 16 years…
The World Health Organization is about to announce a dramatic change in its definition of infertility, as reported recently in The Telegraph—a change that may increase opportunity for LGBT intended…
I had the great honor to present last week at Yale School of Law, along with Professor Douglas G. Nejaime (visiting professor from UCLA School of Law), on “The ‘ART’…
The past several weeks have been a whirlwind of speaking engagements for me, primarily for the purpose of educating lawyers and sharing the knowledge and skills I’ve gained in the…
A new study by the London School of Economics argues that the U.K.’s statutory 10-year limit on storage of cryopreserved eggs or embryos has created a double standard and has,…
A California bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown late last week will provide reassurance and peace of mind to California intended parents, particularly same-sex intended parents, as well…
A recent settlement in a federal lawsuit against the state of Texas may benefit LGBT intended parents by establishing the importance of an accurate, valid birth certificate in protecting children’s…
I was highly honored recently, in my capacity as chair of the ART Committee of the American Bar Association's Family Law Section, to receive the ABA Family Law Section Chair's Cup award, presented…
