When Algorithms Choose Your Future Child: AI-Assisted Reproduction and What It Means for ART Law

Artificial intelligence is no longer on the sidelines of reproductive medicine. It’s in the room analyzing sperm, ranking embryos, and influencing decisions that once rested solely with doctors, patients, and their hopes for the future.

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Women: The Unsung Pioneers in the Development of IVF

While male scientists have traditionally received most of the credit for developing the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART), many women who pioneered vital components of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process have remained in the background. Yet without their often-heroic efforts, the rapid technological advancement and vastly improved outcomes characteristic of modern fertility treatment would not have been possible.

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In Defense of Surrogacy: Balancing Religious Values and Individual Choices

Pope Francis recently made an absolute statement advocating for the complete prohibition of surrogacy, a position that reflects the traditional stance of the Roman Catholic Church on assisted reproductive technologies. While we respect everyone’s right to their own religious beliefs, it is equally important to consider that individuals who do not subscribe to those particular teachings should not be compelled to follow them.

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6 Things to Know Before Starting IVF

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 2.3% of babies born yearly in the United States are the result of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) thanks to the work of thousands of ART professionals coupled with the determination, sacrifice, and love of thousands of so many intended parents, egg and sperm donors, and surrogates.

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More Women Are Freezing Their Eggs Due to Lack of Suitable Men

Prior to 2012, egg freezing had been deemed “experimental” by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the procedure had been largely only available to patients who were undergoing chemotherapy or other medical treatments that affect fertility. Removing egg freezing from the classification of “experimental” opened the procedure up to a larger population of women, and now over a decade later, the number of women freezing their eggs to preserve their fertility has increased significantly.

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‘The Kids Are All Right’ – Study Shows Children Born through Egg Donation, Sperm Donation, and/or Surrogacy Grow Up Just Fine

A 20-year study finds that children born via egg donation, sperm donation, and/or surrogacy grow up just fine, overturning long-held assumptions that children born via assisted reproductive technology (ART) are…

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California Poised to Pass a Bill Mandating IVF Insurance for Large-Group Health Plans

If passed into law, SB 729 would redefine infertility and require health plans to cover assisted reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilization (IVF), sperm testing/deposits, cryopreservation, egg retrievals, and embryo transfers (as long as any such embryo transfers are single-embryo transfers as recommended by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)). This is the farthest any bill mandating fertility coverage equality has gotten in California to date.

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Trends Gaining Popularity in Reproductive Health

Four new trends in reproductive health have intended parents proactively seeking their own unique path to parenthood.

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Disparities Remain for Black Women Living with Infertility

Although Black History Month is a time to highlight and celebrate achievements in the Black community, it is also a time to acknowledge where we have come from, as Americans…

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AI Improves Outcomes, Reduces Costs, in Assisted Reproductive Technology

Exciting new tools are using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve success rates for assisted reproduction technologies (ART) such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, resulting in fewer procedures, lower…

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Fertility Insurance Laws Defray Costs of Assisted Reproduction But Exclude Gay Men

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…

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Barrett Confirmation Could Pose Threat to In Vitro Fertilization

Barrett confirmation to Supreme Court poses a threat to in vitro fertilization (IVF). IFLG calls on Senators to protect reproductive rights. While advocates for reproductive freedom brace for an assault on abortion rights with the potential confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, fertility professionals fear that access to common infertility treatment such as in vitro fertilization, or IVF, might also be in jeopardy.

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UK Asks Intended Parents to ‘Avoid Becoming Pregnant’ During COVID-19 Pandemic

British and European reproductive health experts are advising those undertaking fertility treatments to "avoid becoming pregnant" during the COVID-19 pandemic, as numbers of infections mount and health resources are stretched…

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ASRM Advises Delaying Non-Urgent Fertility Treatment, New York Times Reports

In the midst of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, reproductive healthcare professionals are advised to avoid initiating non-urgent new fertility treatment, under new guidelines just issued by the American Society for…

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Uterus Transplant Donors Motivated to Give Gift of Motherhood

Pennsylvania researchers celebrated recently the birth of a healthy baby boy to a woman who received a uterus transplant from a deceased donor—only the second successful procedure and birth of…

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Uniform Laws Needed to Regulate Abandoned Embryos

Over the past few decades, technological advances have made the miracle of reproduction and parenthood accessible to thousands of people who in an earlier time would have remained childless—people with…

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National Infertility Awareness Week Champions Reproductive Rights

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,…

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Sharing Promise of ART with LGBT China

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…

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Tennessee Lawmakers Propose Barrier for Married Lesbian Parents

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…

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Vergara Embryo Suit Invokes Louisiana’s One-of-A-Kind Personhood Law

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…

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New Global Health Standards Redefine ‘Infertility’ to Include LGBT Intended Parents

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…

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Legal Time Limits on Egg Storage Creates New “Biological Time Clock”

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,…

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Uncertain Status of Cryopreservation Agreements Creates Legal Conflict

With the growing use of cryopreservation, a method of freezing for future use eggs, sperm or embryos, we’re also seeing a growing amount of litigation resulting from disagreements as to their disposition. Sometimes a couple freezes eggs or sperm for medical reasons, such as cancer treatment, or merely in order to delay starting a family until a more opportune time. If the couple later separates, the partners may disagree about whether the eggs, sperm or embryo should be destroyed or preserved, how and when they can be used, and who has the right to make that decision.

Although such cases are still relatively uncommon (most people resolve these matters privately), as the technology improves and becomes more accessible to more people, it’s reasonable to assume such disagreements will occur more often. And as the law stands now, it’s anyone’s bet how these cases will wash out: in this area of law, it’s still the wild, Wild West.

Many couples sign a consent agreement or medical consent form, usually provided by their fertility agency, when they undergo egg or sperm harvesting or in vitro fertilization. Often, the clinic documents don’t cover what happens in the case of separation or divorce. Few intended parents go to a fertility thinking about what will happen if they get a divorce—most don’t want to think about it. However, it is incumbent upon the fertility services providers to make sure all eventualities are covered in these documents, and these intending parents must also be advised to carefully consider all eventualities before cryopreserving their genetic material.

But as things stand today, even the existence of a medical consent form addressing embryo disposition doesn’t rule out the prospect of conflict and litigation. Sometimes the court honors these consent forms, but not always.

(more…)

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UK Mom’s Quest to Fulfill Dying Daughter’s Wish Shows Importance of Cryopreservation Agreement

The UK Court of Appeal this week took steps to clear the way for a mother to help carry out the last wishes of her dying daughter to be a…

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Read more about the article Illuminations Honorees Evans, Gruffudd Warn About Biological Time Clock
Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans at Illuminations 2016

Illuminations Honorees Evans, Gruffudd Warn About Biological Time Clock

Illuminations 2016, the annual awards gala of fertility advocacy organization Path2Parenthood (formerly American Fertility Association), held April 15 at the Four Seasons Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, was as inspiring…

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Class Action Settlement Ends Price Guidelines for Egg Donor Fees

Parties in a long-standing class action lawsuit against two non-profit organizations serving assisted reproductive technology providers and egg donor agencies finally settled recently in an agreement that some say may…

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End-of-Year Tax Question: Does 2*Gay = Infertility?

A law professor at Stetson University in Tampa, Florida, is suing the IRS to treat his and his partner’s assisted reproductive technology costs in the same way it has treated…

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