Illinois has become the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Although Governor Pat Quinn has yet to sign the bill into law, he urged state legislators to pass it and has promised to sign.
Honorees at the upcoming American Fertility Association New York Illuminations November 4 are Nia Vardalos, recipient of the 2013 Carol Berger Adoption Advocacy Award, and Dr. Alan S. Penzias, M.D. recipient of the Joyce M. Vargyas MD Visionary Award.
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
Scores of gay and lesbian couples lined up at county courthouses throughout the state to apply for marriage licenses or to be married.
One of ABA Family Law Section Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology projects concerns updating the Model Act Governing Assisted Reproductive Technology in keeping with rapidly evolving customs and practices.
The ABA Family Law Section ART Committee is always actively engaged in developing and producing high-quality continuing legal education and mentoring on ART law topic
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
I was honored recently to be named chair of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Section Committee on Assisted Reproduction.
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.
Virtus Health Ltd, an Australian in-vitro fertilization company, made news recently by becoming the first IVF company traded on a major stock exchange.
Patric has become the poster child for a proposed new law that would expand the rights of California sperm donors to have a parental relationship with their offspring under certain conditions.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled yesterday, July 11, that surrogacy agreements, under which a woman agrees to carry and give birth to a child for the child’s intended parent or parents, are legal and enforceable.
A new California law will allow women who donate eggs for medical research to be compensated.
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 Gartner family of Iowa received wonderful news on May 3rd when they were notified that the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with them that the Department of Health must include the nonbiological mother of the couple’s daughter on the birth certificate.
In a landmark case, the genetic mother of twins born to a surrogate triumphed over the Irish government, winning the right to be listed as the mother on the birth certificates of her children.
Same-sex marriage legislation passed in two more U.S. states recently
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.
I traveled last week to Anchorage, Alaska, where I attended the American Bar Association, Family Law Section Continuing Legal Education Conference.
As a member of the American Fertility Association’s board of directors, I’m very proud to have been part of Illuminations LA 2013 on April 13.
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.
There is a very interesting and potentially ground-breaking case being heard in the U.K. courts right now about the role of sperm donors in the lives of the children they help to create.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s hearings on two crucial same-sex marriage cases this week has created a media frenzy and raised passions to fever pitch on both sides of the issue.
A paternity case involving a sperm donor and a Miami lesbian couple who became parents via artificial insemination has created a media stir recently.
Recent news out of Australia is evidence of two important trends: first, that the number of children born through surrogacy is increasing significantly, and second, that Australia, like many other countries, is struggling to find ways for its legal system to keep up with fertility technology.
France became the second nation in one month to take the first steps toward marriage equality. The “Marriage for All” bill spearheaded by President François Hollande’s Socialist party also grants the same right to all married couples to adopt children.
Our family is featured in a recent issue of Pink Parenting as part of a series on the families that are part of a print campaign by our partner agency, Growing Generations.
Tommy Woelfel and Rich Vaughn along with their twin boys are featured currently in a London Times Magazine article, Inside gay Hollywood’s baby boom, by Rhys Blakeley.
Kansas Supreme Court ruled in Frazier v. Goudschaal that the two children born via sperm donation to a lesbian couple are the children of both women.
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?
A survey of 61 women who conceived and gave birth after 40 via IVF found that half had been shocked to learn they needed fertility treatment in order to conceive.
A new type of loan provides funding to help cover fertility costs.
A bill to fund fertility services for injured U.S. veterans passed the Senate at the end of 2012 but was stopped in the House due to budget concerns.
All those will be increasingly available to men and women as advances in assisted reproductive technology continue to make creating babies via ART easier, more reliable and less expensive.
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.
Japanese scientists produced viable eggs from the skin cells of mice and earlier successfully created sperm from the embryonic stem cells of mice, opening up a world of future possibilities for assisted reproductive technology.
Rich Vaughn and Tommy Woelfel attended the Halloween Parade 2012 at their sons' preschool.
Rich Vaughn with Carole A. Bass and Steven Weissman were panelists at the annual Continuing Legal Education Conference of the American Bar Association in Philadelphia on Oct. 12, speaking on “What Every Assisted Reproduction Lawyer Needs to know about Estate Planning.”
