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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IFLG Applauds Governor Newsom for Expanding Access to IVF in California

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 729 into law requiring large group health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility service, including in vitro fertilization (IVF).

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Alabama High Court Ruling Deems Frozen Embryos Children, Threatens IVF and Sparks Backlash

Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that all embryos are legally regarded as children, stating that Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location. By granting frozen embryos the same legal status as living children, the court's decision could dramatically alter how embryos created during assisted reproduction are managed, stored, and disposed of.

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Egg Donor & Surrogate Solutions NIAW Special With Molly O’Brien Esq.

Molly O'Brien, an attorney specializing in art law, shares her journey into the field of surrogacy and egg donation and becoming a passionate advocate for the rights of parents, surrogates, and donors alike. Molly discusses the importance of ethical practices in the surrogacy and egg donation industry and highlights the work of SEEDS (Society of Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy) in setting standards for agencies and industry professionals.

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IVF Daddies Discuss Surrogacy Contracts With IFLG Attorney Molly O’Brien

IFLG's Molly O'Brien explains to IVF Daddies the importance of having a lawyer in the IVF process and how they provide independent guidance to intended parents. The conversation then delves into the egg donation process, including choosing a donor, screening, and the legal contract.

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Molly O’Brien Offers Crucial Insights into Alabama’s Recent Embryo Decision to Surrogacy.IS

Attorney Molly O’Brien, Partner at International Fertility Law Group and President of @seedsethics , offers crucial insights into Alabama’s recent embryo wrongful death lawsuit decision. With over two decades of experience in surrogacy and egg donation, Molly advocates passionately ♥️ for reproductive freedoms and medical autonomy.

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The Alabama Ruling: A Conversation with Fertility Lawyer Richard Vaughn

This week the world was shook by the surprise ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court, declaring that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children. When creating embryos, the patients are aware of the possibility that they may be destroyed and unable to be successfully transferred. However, with this new ruling legal consequences could come with unsuccessful transfers.

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Catching Up With IFLG partner and current SEEDS President, Molly O’Brien, Esq.

Listen to IFLG partner and current SEEDS President, Molly O'Brien, Esq. discuss surrogacy with Carey Flamer-Powell, Founder and Director of Surrogacy Mentor and Modern Parent Mentor.

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IVF Daddies Discuss Egg Donor Contracts With IFLG Attorney Molly O’Brien

IFLG's Molly O'Brien explains to IVF Daddies the importance of having a lawyer in the IVF process and how they provide independent guidance to intended parents. The conversation then delves into the egg donation process, including choosing a donor, screening, and the legal contract.

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IFLG Joins ASRM & Resolve Condemning Alabama Supreme Court Ruling Embryos As Children

International Fertility Law Group joins The American Society for Reproductive Medicine and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association in condemning the ruling by the Supreme Court of Alabama in LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, classifying embryos as children.

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LGBTQ Couples Fight for Reproductive Healthcare Benefits

As a growing number of same-sex couples turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART) to create their families, many are disheartened to find disparities in reproductive healthcare benefits provided by employers and insurers compared to their heterosexual counterparts. In many cases, LGBTQ couples are being denied fertility benefits, because they don’t fit into an antiquated mold of traditional male and female gender roles.

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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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Baby Born via Mitochondrial Donation Gives Hope to Families with Genetic Mitochondrial Disorders

Mitochondrial Donation Therapy offers hope to families by preventing the passing of genetic disorders from parent to child. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child, and genetically mutated mitochondria can carry an array of incurable disorders such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, neurological problems, seizures, vision and hearing loss, muscle weakness, cognitive and developmental delays, and early death.

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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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AI Poised to Revolutionize the Future of IVF

Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands to change the fertility world by revolutionizing outdated systems which may influence IVF success rates, the accuracy of cataloging frozen gametes, and lessen the overall cost of fertility treatments.

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Disparities Persist in Fertility Treatment for Black Intended Parents

Disparities continue for Black intended parents with the high cost of IVF, lack of insurance mandates and diversity in the medical community

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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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Destigmatizing Male Infertility

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…

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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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Is Assisted Reproductive Technology the Answer to Declining Birth Rates?

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…

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ART Attorneys Urge Emergency Action on Newborn Passports During COVID-18 Crisis

Among the many challenges intended parents are facing during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the difficulty in obtaining newborn passports enabling them to take their babies born via surrogacy in…

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LGBTQ Intended Parents Juggle COVID-19 Travel Bans, Birth Plan Disruptions

As intended parents, donors and surrogates all over the world are postponing procedures, cancelling appointments, and juggling last-minute changes to travel and birthing plans due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic,…

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Surrogacy Education Down Under Kicks Off IFLG’s 2020 Travel Plans

I was excited and honored to have the opportunity to speak on U.S. surrogacy laws at two Growing Family conferences on February 8 in Sydney and on February 9 in…

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Anti-ART Judges Threaten Reproductive Rights for Future Generations

For decades, assisted reproductive technology has been improving, advancing and expanding the potential for previously infertile people to become biological parents. But the recent influx of right-wing and anti-reproductive freedom…

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Read more about the article RESOLVE ‘Night of Hope’ Celebrates Advocates for Infertility Treatment
Photo Booth Fun: Mindy Berkson of Newborn Advantage Surrogacy, Rich Vaughn of IFLG and Tommy Woelfel at RESOLVE Night of Hope 2019

RESOLVE ‘Night of Hope’ Celebrates Advocates for Infertility Treatment

I had the great pleasure Monday night, November 11, to attend the 2019 RESOLVE Night of Hope dinner in New York. The Night of Hope is the official awards gala…

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