Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a directive over the weekend lifting a ban on visitors for pregnant women giving birth in New York State, reversing policies implemented by two large New York hospital systems in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to CNN.
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…
As the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the daily lives of millions, pregnant women are facing the prospect of delivering without the comfort of spouses, partners or doulas at…
Under a new law effective January 1, about half of insured New Yorkers—some 2.5 million people—now have access to insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, for treatment of…
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 the people of Switzerland voted by a surprisingly wide margin to make it illegal to discriminate publicly based on a person’s sexual orientation. The 63 percent to…
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…
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…
In advance of his January 8 state-of-the-state address, Governor Andrew Cuomo has promised to renew his efforts to end New York’s statewide surrogacy ban in 2020 and to provide the…
To all my friends and colleagues in Taiwan, Happy Pride 2019! I will be there soon to celebrate with you and to participate, along with the organization Taiwan LGBT Family…
The French lower legislative body, the National Assembly, voted today in favor of a law that would legalize in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies for single women…
After 19 years of court battles and legal ups and downs, the French Court of Final Appeal has recognized Sylvie and Dominique Mennesson as the legal parents of their twin…
Ireland, the traditionally Catholic country where surrogacy has existed for decades in a legal limbo, with no laws on the books, is slow-walking a badly needed overhaul of its reproductive…
In a partial but powerful advance in the movement for reproductive freedom in France, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government last month drafted a new bioethics law that would legalize in…
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…
The conflict and division surrounding immigration in the United States have spread beyond border crossings and asylum claims. Based on a narrow interpretation of existing law, U.S. authorities have not…
U.S. fertility specialists and reproductive advocates are celebrating the June birth of the first healthy baby delivered in the United States following a successful uterine transplant from a deceased donor.…
I had the great honor recently to represent the American Bar Association and its Assisted Reproduction Technology Committee at the first International Surrogacy Conference, hosted last month by Cambridge University’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…
For more than two years, we’ve been following the case of two Italian dads, a gay couple, who became parents of twin boys via egg donation and surrogacy in Canada,…
An Ohio appeals court upheld decades of legal precedent in ruling early this month that embryos are not persons. But viewed in the context of so-called “heartbeat laws” recently introduced…
Growing obstacles to intercountry adoption have drastically reduced the number of children adopted by U.S. residents from other countries—making assisted reproduction an increasingly appealing alternative for many seeking to fulfill…
New York advocates for reproductive freedom report progress in their efforts to end the state’s nearly three-decade ban on commercial surrogacy agreements. Despite ongoing organized opposition from far-right and anti-choice…
Amid so many gravely concerning headlines about immigration recently, at least one immigration story had a happy ending last week: A federal judge overturned the government’s earlier decision to deny…
Vogue's March 2019 issue spotlighting California as the "center of everything" includes the article, "Fertile Ground," in which writer Jancee Dunn explores the state's role as a fount of advancements…
Following the historic 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, activists and social scientists speculated that more LGBT people would opt to become…
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…
Promising new research, published in the October 2018 issue of the journal Nature Communications, “could help today’s cancer survivors become tomorrow’s fathers,” as Today’s Kate Snow reported earlier this week.…
As we prepare to welcome a new year, several recent events point to growing worldwide acceptance of, access to and affordability of assisted reproductive technology. The government of Ireland will,…
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…
Ireland legalized same-sex marriage the same year the United States did, via a Supreme Court ruling in 2015. But just as is true of the U.S., Ireland has struggled to…
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…
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy just signed a law legalizing gestational carrier agreements, effectively lifting a 30-year ban on surrogacy in the state. Passage of S482, the “New Jersey Gestational…
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…
Congratulations to Washington State, which just became the first state to enact UPA 2017, the updated Uniform Parentage Act for use by U.S. states as uniform legislation for parentage laws,…
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…
We at International Fertility Law Group are proud, in partnership with Oregon Reproductive Medicine, to officially represent the United States in the field of fertility law at the second annual…
The headlines have been full recently of the stories of two same-sex couples, one parents of twins, the other parents of sibling daughters, both suing the U.S. State Department in…
For many of us, the New Year is a time to pause a moment, to count our blessings and to look back at past achievements. Each year, advances in assisted…
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…
As an attorney with a busy practice, a husband and a father of two boys, my days usually fly by juggling responsibilities and deadlines, and there isn’t much time for…
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…
The Cambodian government finally took action last month to resolve a legal quandary that trapped dozens of foreign couples and their unborn or newborn children in the country following its…
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…
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…
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…
