Tag: reproductive laws

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Is infertility a disability?

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Is infertility a disability?
‘Disabilities are an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives’.

If you use the above definition. Is infertility is a disability?  To help you to make your decision, I include a few facts. As many members are male, it may seem that descriptions are over emotive. Infertility is an emotive subject. I have written this as honestly as I can in the hope that reading it will cause people to think before they respond with unnecessary harshness and insensitivity.

Infertility is often caused by very painful physical gynaecological problems. Endometriosis and polycystic ovaries being the most common. Most doctors will tell any woman that the best known cure for these problems is to have a pregnancy. Some women have been given IVF solely for this reason and it has worked. Symptoms have reduced significantly after she’d had a child. Read full article.

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Kansas Wants Sperm Donor to Pay Child Support

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The state of Kansas is seeking child support from a man who says he signed away all parental rights when he donated sperm to a lesbian couple.

“It came out of the blue. He was absolutely floored,” attorney Ben Swinnen said of his client William Marotta.

Marotta, 46, met Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner in 2009 when he responded to a Craigslist ad from a lesbian couple in Topeka, Kan., who were offering $50 per sperm donation, according to legal documents. Marotta and his wife met with the women and he agreed to donate to them without accepting the money, Swinnen said.

All three signed a sperm donor contract that stated that he would have no paternal rights and would be in no way responsible for any child that resulted from the donation.

“Jennifer and Angie further agree to indemnify William and hold him harmless for any child support payments demanded of him by any other person or entity, public or private, including any district attorney’s office or other state or county agency, regardless of the circumstances or said demand,” the agreement read. Read full article.

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ASRM Applauds International Court of Human Rights Overturn of Costa Rica’s IVF Ban

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Statement attributable to Linda Giudice, MD, PhD, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

“We are pleased that the International Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has cleared the way for Costa Ricans suffering from the disease of infertility to access assisted reproductive technology treatments without having to travel from their home country.

In finding that Costa Rica violated human rights laws in its 12-year ban of in vitro fertilization, the court recognized the importance of the right to have children and a family and that conception dates from implantation.  Like all diseases, infertility strikes unfairly.  And for Costa Rican patients prevented access to one of the most effective infertility treatments, the injustice was exacerbated. All patients need to have access to the most effective treatments appropriate for them. We applaud the court for restoring hope for those suffering from infertility in Costa Rica.”

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, founded in 1944, is an organization of 8,000 physicians, researchers, nurses, technicians and other professionals dedicated to advancing knowledge and expertise in reproductive biology.  Affiliated societies include the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology, the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Society of Reproductive Surgeons, and the Society of Reproductive Biologists and Technologists. Read full article.

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Court Says Kids Aren’t Heirs In Frozen Sperm Case

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PORTAGE, Mich. (AP) – The Michigan Supreme Court says children conceived with frozen sperm from a deceased man can’t be considered his heirs.

The decision Friday means two Kalamazoo-area siblings won’t be collecting Social Security benefits that typically go to minor children of the deceased.

Pam Mattison of Portage is suing the Social Security Administration for benefits for her twins, who are 11. The children were conceived through artificial insemination in 2001 after her husband, Jeff Mattison, died.

A federal judge asked the state Supreme Court for its opinion of Michigan estate law. The court says the children can’t be considered heirs because they weren’t alive when Jeff Mattison died nor was their mother pregnant at that time.

Justices Marilyn Kelly and Michael Cavanagh say the Legislature should change the law. Read full article.

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Senate moves bill covering fertility care for vets

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Wounded veterans and their spouses who want to have children could get the government to pay for treatments such as in vitro fertilization under legislation beginning to move through Congress in the waning days of the session.
By voice vote, the Senate passed a bill Thursday to update the Veterans Affairs Department’s medical coverage for one of the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: trauma to a soldier’s reproductive organs.
Nearly 2,000 service members suffered such wounds between 2003 and 2011. But when wounded veterans went to the VA for medical help in starting a family, they were told the VA doesn’t provide that kind of care.
A similar bill is pending in the House. Supporters said the Senate’s action increases its chances of becoming law before Congress adjourns.
The chief sponsor, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she has heard from veterans whose marriages have dissolved because of the stress of infertility, in combination with the stresses of readjusting to civilian life after severe injury.
“Any service member who sustains this type of serious injury deserves so much more,” she said.
With both chambers deadlocked on budget issues, even Murray was surprised the bill didn’t raise a single objection in the Senate. Any objection would have quashed it for the year.
As Murray spoke, Tracy Keil of Parker, Colo., watched from the gallery. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Matt Keil, was paralyzed from the chest down after he was shot in the neck in Iraq. The Keils were able to afford the nearly $32,000 it cost for in vitro fertilization and now have 2-year-old twins, Matthew and Faith. But knowing that many families cannot afford that on their own, the Keils have been lobbying Congress to expand the VA’s coverage. Read full article.

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Who’s Mom? Legally, biologically, it’s no easy answer

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Artificial reproductive technologies have made familiar terms outdated and inadequate. Supreme Court could clarify parents’ rights later this year with rulings in two gay marriage cases.

In a classic 1960 children’s book, a baby bird toddles up to one critter after another asking, “Are you my mother?”

For some babies today, there’s no simple answer — biologically or legally.

Advances in artificial reproductive technologies, mean a baby could have three “mothers” — the genetic mother, the birth mother and the intended parent, who may be a woman or a man.

Mother here may not be mother there. Mother nowmay not be mother later. Statutes on surrogacy, adoption, divorce and inheritance vary state by state, court by court, decision by decision. For non-traditional couples, the patchwork of laws makes it even more complex. New York allows gay marriage but forbids surrogacy, while Utah permits surrogacy but bans gay marriage. Read full article.

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50 Reasons HHS Should Reverse its Decision on Emergency Contraception

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Here is a $12 billion problem we really can actually go a long way towards eliminating.

There are 62 million American women of childbearing age, 43 million of whom are “at risk” for unintended pregnancy. Women manage their fertility for an average of 30 years. “At risk”—like an unplanned pregnancy is something that just happens to you, out of your control. NOT. These pregnancies have consequences for all of us. Someone needs to introduce the Purity Bear to the $12 billion dollars worth of consequences. And that’s a conservative estimate.

Most girls and women (some of whom are part of a couple…) don’t get pregnant if they don’t want to when they have access to safe, affordable birth control, including emergency contraception. There are no medical or scientific reasons why girls and women need prescriptions for methods relevant to their needs. Just religious, shame-based ones based on stereotypes, control and fear. We should be scheduling birth control biotechnologies the way we do vaccines and they should not require prescriptions. That or we should start requiring prescriptions for condoms. Exactly how long do you think that option would fly with the Pecker Patrol?

The most obvious and immediate issue is the fact that emergency contraception, Plan B, is not available without a prescription and should be. The longer term issue is why American women are ill-informed about and therefore not using long-acting forms of reversible contraception. Read full article.

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Federal District Court Judge Rules New York Archdiocese Challenge To Birth Control Benefit May Proceed

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A federal district court in New York denied the Obama administration’s request to dismiss a challenge to the contraception mandate filed by a group of Catholic organizations.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and two other Catholic entities challenged the law, arguing that providing their employees with a health insurance plan that makes contraception available without a co-pay violates their rights to free exercise of religion. The Obama administration argued the plaintiffs couldn’t challenge the insurance requirement at this time since the mandate, which doesn’t take effect until January 2014, isn’t causing the archdiocese any imminent injury. Furthermore, the administration argued, an additional compromise  and the administration to address concerns of religious organizations is in the works. Read full article.

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UN Call Contraception Access a Universal Human Right

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Access to contraception is a universal human right that could dramatically improve the lives of women and children in poor countries, the United Nations announced Wednesday in a new report.

It is the first time the U.N. Population Fund’s annual report explicitly describes family planning as a human right.

“Family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development,” Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the fund, said in a written statement. “Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labor-force participation boosts nations’ economies.” Read full article.

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Man’s Death Ends Parents’ Legal Quest for His Sperm

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A Roanoke man who had been in critical condition since an Oct. 14 car wreck in Franklin County died Thursday, according to his family and state police.

Rufus Arthur McGill II, 19, crashed his mother’s 2005 Cadillac near Boones Mill last month. The wreck involved six people, and killed Hannah M. Long, a 15-year-old Liberty High School student.

McGill, who went by Sonny, had been on life support at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday that McGill’s parents, Jerri and Rufus McGill, wanted to harvest his sperm in order to have grandchildren.

Jerri McGill said Saturday that they will not be able to harvest their son’s sperm because getting a court order would take several days. McGill said she was told by doctors that the sperm would have to be extracted and frozen within 24 to 36 hours after her son’s death. Read full article.