Tag: third party reproduction

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Reproductive Technology and the Law

brigitte

Enid Abrahami, a single mother by choice, conceived her first child with her own egg and a stranger’s sperm, thanks to a fertility clinic in New York. Abrahami then gave birth to her son in Israel, where she lives these days. She had no trouble attaining her son’s American citizenship. Abrahami, who has dual Israeli and American citizenship, grew up in both New York City and Tel Aviv.

When she decided to have a second child, Abrahami found that she was having trouble getting pregnant using her own eggs. So this time she used both somebody else’s egg—called a donor egg—and sperm from the same donor used to conceive her son. Again, for her second child, a daughter, the embryo was transferred to her uterus in New York and the baby was born in Israel.

But this time, when Abrahami went to fill out the paperwork for her daughter’s citizenship, a U.S. Embassy official learned that she was a single mom and had used donor sperm. The official then asked her, very directly, if she used a donor egg to make her baby.

“I literally felt like I left my body—it seemed so out of the blue,” Abrahami says. “It was one of the most violating experiences I have ever been through. How could they ask me that?”

Abrahami was told that she could not transfer her citizenship onto her daughter. She was told that citizenship is transferred only through DNA, and that she needed proof that at least one of the donors was a U.S. citizen. Most donations are made anonymously.

Abrahami isn’t the only U.S. citizen facing what appears to be a discrepancy in U.S. law. A child adopted overseas by an American is eligible for U.S. citizenship, but a child created from a donor egg and sperm and born overseas to a U.S. citizen must provide proof that one of the donors is a U.S. citizen. Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Govt Backs Egg and Sperm Donor ID (AUS)

brigitte

IT is up to the states and territories to legislate so that Australians conceived through sperm or egg donations can identify their donors, the federal government says.

The government has backed a Senate committee’s call for donor information to be made available but says there is no constitutional power for the Commonwealth to legislate comprehensively in the area.

Last year in February a Senate committee handed down 32 recommendations, chief among them a proposal to introduce a national registry to contain donor information.

The recommendation, if implemented, would allow donor-conceived people to find out who their donor is once they turn 18 years old.

It also recommended donors not be able to identify their offspring unless the children gave their consent and siblings to have to give their approval to be identified to their half-brothers or sisters. Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

NJ Governor Vetoes Surrogacy Bill

ASRM News and Research

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation yesterday intending to establish a legal framework for gestational carrier arrangements in the state. In vetoing the legislation, Christie argued that the state had not yet fully examined profound questions that surround creating a child through a contract, and that further study of the issue was necessary. The sponsors of the bill refuted the need for further study citing the year long legislative process which involved input from various stakeholders and public hearings on the issue.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Too Risky for Toddler to Meet Sperm Donor Father, Judge Rules

brigitte

The potential risk of introducing a Northern Ontario toddler to his genetic father at this point in his life is too major to be ignored, a judge has ruled in turning down a sperm donor’s bid for interim access to the boy, now being raised by his biological mother and her lesbian partner.

The decision marks the first round in a key test case of the uncertain law around exchanges of human sperm and egg, as increasing numbers of Canadian children are born by “assisted” reproduction.

A full trial is scheduled for this October to consider the man’s demand for paternity rights – and add some clarity to the tangled issue – but Rene deBlois had requested access to the boy pending the final wrap-up of the case.

The two women had argued that Tyler Lavigne, who has never met Mr. deBlois, might become confused and insecure if the 22-month-old encountered the donor now, noted Justice Norman Karam of the Ontario Superior Court in Cochrane, Ont.

“Despite the child’s young age, it is impossible to know what disclosure of [Mr. deBlois’s] status as his parent might mean,” said the judge. “All circumstances considered, the risk of there being an adverse effect to the child is too great to ignore.”

Justice Karam said he considered imposing limitations on the access to deal with those concerns, but decided the restrictions would be virtually impossible to enforce.

He said he also found “very convincing” the couple’s argument that by allowing access to the child now, he could inadvertently affect the outcome of the trial, expected to be closely watched by legal analysts, parent groups and others.

Selena Kazimierski and Nicole Lavigne say the donor – a former high-school acquaintance of Ms. Lavigne – signed an agreement that he would never contact the baby born in October, 2010, with the help of his artificially inseminated sperm. They fear the family life they have built for their son would be unduly disrupted if he that changed. The donor says he no longer honours the deal, partly because Ms. Lavigne failed to follow through on her verbal commitment to have a baby for him, too.  Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Many Egg-Donor Recruiters Ignore Ethical Standards

brigitte

A sizable share of the U.S. organizations recruiting egg donors online don’t adhere to ethical guidelines, including failing to warn of the risks of the procedure and offering extra payment for traits like good looks, according to a U.S. study.

Women are recruited to donate eggs to fulfill a growing demand by couples seeking in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but a number of websites seeking to recruit them ignore standards set by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

“I would argue that there needs to be more attention from ASRM about these agencies, because you don’t want these women exploited,” said Robert Klitzman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and lead author of the study that appeared in the journal Fertility & Sterility.

Ethical standards set forth by the ASRM specify that donors should be at least 21 years old, and those between ages 18 and 20 should receive a psychiatric evaluation first.

Also, women are not to be paid for their eggs but compensated, equally, for their time. Donor traits such as college grades or previous successful donations should not result in higher payment.

But abiding by the recommendations is voluntary, and the guidelines carry no legal authority, though ASRM will sanction members who do not adhere to the guidelines. But that doesn’t cover non-member organizations.

“Our ability to influence the behavior of non-members is pretty limited,” said Sean Tipton, a spokesperson for ASRM. Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Christie Vetoes Bill that Would have Eased Tough Rules for Gestational Surrogates

brigitte

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today vetoed a bill that would have relaxed New Jersey’s strict surrogate parenting law, saying the state hadn’t yet answered the “profound” questions that surround creating a child through a contract.

According to the governor’s statement explaining the veto obtained by The Star-Ledger, “Permitting adults to contract with others regarding a child in such a manner unquestionably raises serious and significant issues.”

“In contrast to traditional surrogacy, a gestational surrogate birth does not use the egg of the carrier,” the governor wrote. “In this scenario, the gestational carrier lacks any genetic connection to the baby, and in some cases, it is feasible that neither parent is genetically related to the child. Instead, children born to gestational surrogates are linked to their parents by contract.”

“While some all applaud the freedom to explore these new, and sometimes necessary, arranged births, others will note the profound change in the traditional beginnings of the family that this bill will enact. I am not satisfied that these questions have been sufficiently studied by the Legislature at this time,” according to the statement.

The bill (S1599) would have eliminated the three-day waiting period for parents of children born to surrogates to be listed on their birth certificates. It also would have required the “gestational carrier” to surrender custody of the child immediately upon the child’s birth.

The state has not updated its surrogacy law since the Baby M case in 1988, which defined the legal relationship between a surrogate using her egg and a husband who used his sperm to conceive a child. But that case involved artificial insemination, not in vitro fertilization, which is what sparked this bill involving a Union County couple.

The state Bureau of Vital Statistics initially allowed the couple to be listed on their son’s birth certificate after the three-day waiting period. But state went to court to block it because the intended mother had no genetic or biological tie to the infant – conceived with an anonymous donor egg and her husband’s sperm. She had to adopt the baby despite a surrogacy contract recognized by a judge.

Read full article.

 

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Surrogacy Laws Vary by State

brigitte

In Ohio, a surrogate and an egg donor both sued for custody of triplets after the genetic father and his fiancée failed to visit the babies in the hospital for several days.

In New Jersey, a woman who had served as a surrogate for her brother and his same-sex partner fought to raise the resulting twin girls – even though they had not been conceived with her eggs.

And in India, a set of twins ended up in an orphanage after DNA testing showed they had no genetic link to a Canadian couple who had arranged a surrogate pregnancy.

In Wisconsin, there’s no telling what the outcome of cases like these would be.

That’s because Wisconsin has no laws on surrogacy.

That’s a far cry from two nearby states: Michigan, where hiring a surrogate is a crime, and Illinois, which has perhaps the most liberal law in the nation allowing surrogacy. Some who work in the field believe the lack of regulation here is positive, while others think it puts families on dangerous legal ground.

“It depends,” said Lynn Bodi, a Madison lawyer who co-owns a surrogacy agency. “The problem is: If there was a law, we don’t know exactly what it would say.”

Judges here have dealt with surrogacy on a case-by-case basis, resulting in some positive case law, according to attorney Melissa Brisman of Reproductive Possibilities, the largest surrogacy agency on the East Coast.

Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Court To Rule If Sperm Donor Can Renege

brigitte

Who actually owns sperm donated to a sperm bank – the donor or the woman who paid for the sperm? Can a donor decide to change his mind after receiving payment for his donation? And what is more important, a donor’s right to refuse to be a father against his will, or a women’s right to have children who are biological siblings? The High Court of Justice will have to rule on these complex and sensitive questions in a petition that might affect the lives of thousands of women who use Israeli sperm banks to fulfill their wish to be mothers.

Four sperm vials – enough for eight fertilization treatments – are at the center of a judicial conflict between the donor who wishes to have his sperm donations scrapped and the recipient who purchased the vials and wishes to use them to have several children from the same father. Surprising as it may sound, there are no legal guidelines regarding sperm donations, and the scenario of the donor reneging is not dealt with in forms filled out by the donor and the recipient, nor in the directives of the Health Ministry.

Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Two women, nine months and the gift of family

brigitte

MURRAY — The tears came late at night when the hospital room was quiet and she was alone for the first time in months.

There were tears of happiness for the couple who were finally cuddling a baby of their own, the boy she had given birth to just a few hours before. And there were also tears of sadness — not because she regretted her decision to become a surrogate mother, but because one of the most wonderful experiences of her life was over.

“When you’ve been the focus of somebody’s life for nine months and that suddenly ends, it hits you hard and it hurts,” says Ryley Eaton. “The couple whose child you carried has lived and breathed you for months — your life and well-being has been their entire focus. But once the baby is here, that all ends. Before you can blink, the journey is over.”

Eaton, 29, was relieved to find a small support network of women who have also made the emotional journey as surrogate mothers, or, as they’re legally known in Utah, “gestation carriers.” Once a month, about 20 members of Utah Surrogates gather at a restaurant or park to share tales of what it’s like to give the gift of family to couples unable to conceive on their own.

Read full article.

Fertility Clock Headlines, Fertility Headlines

Woman Sues FDA for Right to Select Sperm Donor, Bypass Sperm Bank

brigitte

A California woman pursuing artificial insemination is suing the federal government for the right to choose how she’ll get the sperm.

The unusual case was filed Monday in U.S. District Court. On the heels of the Supreme Court decision upholding the federal health care overhaul, the plaintiff in this case is challenging another area of federal health care regulation.
At issue are Food and Drug Administration rules that set standards for sperm banks — like requiring tests for communicable diseases. But the woman in the California suit doesn’t want to go through a standard sperm bank or other clinic. The anonymous plaintiff instead, according to the suit, wants to use the sperm of someone she knows — at no cost — without going through all the federal regulatory rigmarole.

She and her lawyers call the FDA rules an unconstitutional violation of her rights — that is, her right to start a family with whomever she wants.

“When you are regulating private decisions between two individuals in a non-commercial context that have to do with something so intimate and personal as whether they want to have a child together, then the FDA regulations should not apply,” Amber Abbasi , attorney in the case, told FoxNews.com.

Abbasi’s group Cause of Action filed the suit on the California woman’s behalf.

Read full article.