Has Power Moderated Italy’s Leader? Not to Same-Sex Parents. New York Times (August 19, 2024)
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has mostly shown a pragmatic streak abroad. But at home, her government is plunging many gay families into panic. NAFG has long worked with intended parents from Italy, both heterosexual and same-sex. It’s never been a particularly welcoming environment for those involved with third party reproduction, but the Meloni government and […]
Alabama Supreme Court determines that embryos are children
What is a frozen embryo, exactly? With in vitro fertilization (IVF), the embryologist combines the sperm and eggs to create fertilized eggs or embryos. It takes 3-5 days to create an embryo that is ready to freeze for later use (it can also be genetically tested at this point, to see if it is chromosomally […]
Why Anonynous Sperm Donation is Over, and Why That Matters by Emily Bazelon
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/magazine/anonymous-sperm-donation-genetic-testing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DE0.0wPj.tC7L4BNwvKWn&smid=url-share I have directed an egg donation and surrogacy program for many years. A law requiring disclosure of identifying information many years post-donation will have real (and perhaps unintended) negative practical consequences. To be sure, the number of willing sperm and egg donors will plummet and this will mean far fewer choices for parents and […]
What Makes Takes3 Different?
They Were Surrogates. Now They Must Raise the Children (New York Times, November 26)
The New York Times article on November 26, 2022 (“They Were Surrogates. Now They Must Raise the Children.”) Sunday edition included an article about the legal challenges for surrogacy in Cambodia, which have resulted in women being forced to raise children they expected would be raised by their biological parent(s), while the intended parents are […]
Made in Boise: documentary review by Ellen Glazer
When I heard that there is a new documentary about surrogacy titled Made in Boise, I wasn’t sure what to think or expect. As a long time supporter of surrogacy, I have come to brace myself for such critical comments as “surrogacy exploits women” or “it’s a way rich people can make babies.” Hence it […]
Same-sex couple sues State Department for denying daughter’s citizenship
The anti-gay discrimination which Jonathan Gregg and James Derek Mize are ensnared in is an awful predicament which no new parent should have to endure. By refusing to confer US citizenship on their daughter who has a court-ordered birth certificate listing both fathers as parents (their daughter Simone was born in the UK to a […]
A Very Long Pregnancy
I always knew that pregnancies after infertility felt extra long. Over the years I have counseled countless people to be prepared for a very slow start to their pregnancies. I took to reminding them that the old dictim, “you can’t be a little bit pregnant” doesn’t really apply to ART pregnancies. You do feel “a […]
From Both Sides Now
Over the years I have had many opportunities to talk with people considering or going through surrogacy. I’ve long been fascinated by the ways that heretofore strangers come together, trust each other and creatively share a pregnancy, often long distance. As a family building counselor, I have readily dispensed advise to surrogacy participants, especially to […]
Limitations on the compensation of gamete donors: a public opinion survey Presented at the 72nd the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Scientific Congress and Expo, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 15–19, 2016.
Fertility and Sterility (June 2017) published the results of a self-sponsored public opinion survey to measure the general public’s conception of what is appropriate egg donor compensation, in the wake of the class action lawsuit (which was settled not in their favor). Before the lawsuit was settled, the ASRM had a fixed cap on donor […]
