A do-it-yourself insemination of a surrogate can lead to a host of unintended and unfortunate legal consequences—as one recent U.K. court case shows.
An exciting new technology offers the promise of diagnosing mysterious and rare causes of infertility by using nanoparticles to penetrate sperm.
Although the number of babies per IVF birth has dropped, today most of those multiples are twins. The next goal of professionals in the field is to reduce the number of twins.
It’s exciting to get to know people from all over the world and a privilege to play a small part in this tremendously important time in their lives.
Some 65 babies born or about to be born and their gay intended parents are trapped in a kind of legal limbo in Thailand, where the surrogate mothers reside.
The Today Show, as part of a series on ART, recently highlighted technological improvements that have resulted in fewer births of triplets and higher multiples and, increasingly, fewer births of twins.
Growing Generations, surrogacy and egg donation agency, was featured recently in an article in DuJour Magazine about the growing numbers of single men choosing to become parents via surrogacy.
With the relaxing of China's one-child policy, the number of Chinese intended parents coming to the U.S. to create families via assisted reproductive technology is likely to increase.
AFA’s recent initiative to help members of the U.S. armed forces and their families by providing information and resources and providing discounted infertility treatment and preservation services to service members.
This amazing story about fertility professionals who went above and beyond to salvage the hopes and dreams of intended parents really hits home.
A California bill recently signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 460, clarifies language and clears up confusion around whether gay and lesbian intended parents are entitled to insurance coverage for infertility treatment.
More and more women are becoming moms via egg donation over the past decade, with significantly improved outcomes, as reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual meeting in Boston
Despite the fact that more women are putting off marriage and childbirth until later in life, U.S. fertility rates haven’t changed significantly over the past 20 years
Delaware law now authorizes such agreements and establishes clear standards and procedures for defining the relationship of parent and child resulting from gestational surrogacy
Restrictions on surrogate compensation make family formation via assisted reproductive technology (“ART”) a challenge for many single men. In India and Ukraine, two of the few countries where commercial surrogacy is allowed, single men are excluded.
In-Vitro Maturation, or IVM, is one of the newest technologies being utilized in the fertility field as a cost-efficient, safe alternative to In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
I am pleased to report that the following article I wrote on California surrogacy law was published recently in the Family Law Review. To read full article click here: (2013) 3…
In the US approximately 2,000,000 men are diagnosed with infertility problems. The good news is that almost 99% of male infertility cases can be resolved.
The U.S. Supreme Court released decisions on DOMA and Prop 8 that will have a profound impact for many of our clients and on the lives of LGBT people
Restricting the program to those with biological infertility conditions would have obvious negative ramifications for same-sex couples, for whom IVF is often a means of becoming parents.
Using time-lapse photography to create mini-movies of embryos may hold the secret to increasing the success rate of in vitro fertilization
Boston IVF, a medical practice specializing in assisted reproductive technology (ART), has received a two-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to promote donation of frozen embryos.
A new gestational surrogacy law, AB 421, authored by Kim Surratt of Surratt Law Practice, PC, and an Of Counsel attorney to IFLG, was signed by the Governor of Nevada
The Child-Parent Security Act is in committee in the New York State legislature. The bill, introduced last May by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88th), would legalize surrogacy in the state.
Uruguay became the second Latin American nation, following Argentina, to legalize same-sex marriage
It is essential that intended parents understand what steps they need to take in order to ensure their babies are legal citizens of the country in which they will reside and that the parents are legally recognized as such.
Another development in France was the issuance of an order from the French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira that could have enormous impact on French families created via assisted reproductive technology.
The prospect of parenting a child alone, physically, mentally and financially, for 18 years or more is a daunting one. But for an adult who has considered the pros and cons and is genuinely committed to becoming a single parent, ART can be an option.
Apparently during the taping of a segment for the new season, Glanville revealed that Maloof had used a surrogate to have her twin boys, Christian and Colin, now 6 years old. The publicity surrounding what is and should be a completely personal decision has raised awareness of a question that every parent of a child born through surrogacy faces: When, how and what do I tell my child about his or her birth story?
Most state statutes governing sperm donation do not require the state to assess the intent of the donor and recpipients: if the donor qualifies as a parent or potential support obligor under state law, the state can go after him.
With in vitro fertilization and egg donation, gay intended parents face the emotional decision of whose sperm to use, an issue gay couples must discuss openly.
Both ‘traditional surrogacy,’ in which one woman provides the egg and carries the child, and ‘gestational surrogacy,’ in which one woman provides the egg and, after it is fertilized, another woman carries the child, are illegal for all people in Michigan, gay or straight.
The new law provides guidance relating to the manner in which surrogacy agreements must be executed, when medical procedures can be commenced, and where parental establishment cases may be filed--many procedures already utilized by experienced assisted reproduction practitioners but not required by law.
The Illinois Department of Public Health recently reversed its discriminatory policy and instructed that names of both same-sex intended parents be entered on birth certificates in gestational surrogacy cases, following the intent of the Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act enacted in 2005.
The show features a non-traditional “family” that includes a gay male couple, the surrogate with whom they are having a baby, the surrogate’s young daughter, the surrogate’s disapproving and deeply prejudiced mother, and the daughter’s biological father.
The number of gay couples forming families is on a steady rise from previous years. Gay and lesbian couples around the world are finding new hope creating families using ART methods.
Surrogacy laws vary from state to state. Some states offer no legal standing for surrogacy agreements and only grant court orders on a per-case basis, which leaves would-be parents and surrogates in precarious positions.
“Infertility is a disease that affects about 6 million American couples, roughly 10 percent of the reproductive age population.”
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has been used in the U.S. for over 30 years as a means for couples with fertility struggles to start a family. ART includes a variety of fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Family Planning Documents are drafted to clarify your intentions as to who has authority to make these important decisions regarding your and your child(ren)’s health, medical care, and guardianship in the event of your death or incapacity.
There are actually quite a few legislative proposals being debated all across the country relating to assisted reproduction at the moment which could eventually have dramatic consequences (positive and negative) for your ART journey.
If you are undergoing fertility treatment or using assisted reproductive technology to create a family, at some point, you will confront a stack of forms provided by your physician.
No official agency keeps track of the number of would-be parents who travel to India for surrogacy. But the proliferation of clinics around the country providing such services gives some idea of the rising demand for surrogates
Wisconsin Supreme Court to Decide Whether An Insurer Can Deny Maternity Coverage to a Surrogate
If you have not requested an expedited birth certificate, it may take several weeks before your child’s birth certificate is available. Generally a written or online request is required for you to receive your child’s birth certificate, along with confirmation that you are an “authorized” person. You can order the certificate via an online service such as vitalchek.com or directly from the County Clerk or Recorder in the county where your baby was born. We strongly suggest you purchase multiple copies of your child’s birth certificate—particularly if you do not reside in the US or will need to request an amended birth certificate in future. The office will charge a per-copy fee.
Once the birth certificate worksheet is completed, the hospital birth clerk will send it to the vital records office in the county in which your child was born.
In the case of an expedited birth certificate request, ask the hospital birth clerk for the address of the local vital records office, where you will pick up the birth certificate in person. Call before you go to confirm the birth certificate is ready and available for you to pick up.
If you need an expedited birth certificate, as you might if you plan to take your baby home to another country, ask the hospital birth clerk to expedite the birth certificate request at this time. In most cases, you will receive the expedited birth certificate within a few days.
Following your baby’s birth, the hospital birth clerk will complete a birth certificate and birth registration worksheet.
Some states require that the birth registration documents include some information about the surrogate for public health and statistical purposes only, but such information will appear only on the confidential portion of the birth registration; however, the official birth certificate will not contain this information.
If your baby is born in a “pre-birth state,” where pre-birth orders of parentage are permitted for babies born via surrogacy, the birth clerk will use information from the pre-birth parentage judgment we obtain on your behalf. The parentage judgment will direct the registrar to allow you to name the child, as well as list you as the parent(s).
In states where pre-birth parentage orders are not allowed, the process is essentially the same except the birth clerk will eventually use information from the post-birth order we obtain on your behalf. In some instances, the birth clerk will need to send the birth registration to vital records before the post-birth order is obtained; and in these situations, the state’s Vital Records will enter the correct birth registration to show you as the legal parent(s).
