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Reproductive Legal Update

by Melissa Brisman, Esq.

October’s legal update focuses on potential parents and their criminal past, exciting news out of the United Kingdom, a sad twist of fate for an Ohio woman, and a discussion of recommendations made by an expert panel in Ontario, Canada.

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October’s Reproductive Rights Watch

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Choosing a Gestational Carrier

Important issues to consider.

Once you have completed an agency’s admissions process, you will be given the profiles of several surrogates. Usually, agencies will offer recommendations based on your individual needs and the availability of surrogates at that time. You have the opportunity to meet your potential surrogate at "match meetings," and decide if she is the right fit for you and your family. The surrogate can use these meetings to get to know you as well.

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A Decision You Will Never Regret

Submitted by The Editors on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 14:07

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Considering using a donor or surrogate? Trust your gut.

I was planning to blog about Manny Ramirez taking HCG (yes, the fertility drug), Alice Domer criticizing her own study that showed acupuncture doesn't boost IVF success, a new study reporting that France –- a country whose citizens sleep and the eat the most -- is the most fertile country in the E.U., but I spent the day interviewing people for our next series of patient videos and what I learned was much more important than the news headlines.

Ready? If you are considering using a donor egg or a surrogate to have a baby, please don’t wait any longer. Accept your fears about the lack of control and the unknown and go for it. You will never regret the outcome or the lessons you will learn through the experience. You will become 1) a parent and 2) a better, more compassionate person as a result.

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Surrogacy and Gestational Care

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In Vitro Maturation (IVM)

A safer and cheaper alternative to IVF?

In vitro maturation (IVM) was first developed in the early 1990’s to provide a safer and cheaper alternative to in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVM techniques are improving, and many fertility clinics throughout the U.S. are beginning to offer it.

How Does IVM Work?

The ovaries are minimally stimulated (meaning less fertility medications are used to make the ovaries produce eggs). Unlike traditional IVF where eggs are retrieved as close to ovulation as possible, IVM captures the eggs much sooner when they are still “immature.” The eggs are “matured” in the laboratory for about 24 to 48 hours using a culture medium containing small amounts of hormones. Once mature, the eggs are fertilized using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) – a very tiny needle containing one sperm is directly injected into the egg. The resulting embryos are transferred to the woman’s uterus.

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The Advocacy Sessions

On the frontlines of fertility policy.

by Barbara Collura, May 4, 2009

What is an advocate? And what does it take to be an advocate in the infertility community?

We often hear about the efforts of “just one person” and how he or she made a difference. We often hear a call-to-action to volunteer, stand up for what we believe in, and make change happen. But let’s face it, we don’t all have it in us to be “the one.” Some of us would rather not rock the boat. I do believe, however, that many of us want to experience the benefits that change provides.

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Ingredients for Advocacy

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Reproductive Legal Update: May 2009

by Melissa Brisman, Esq., May 2009

So much has transpired in the world of reproductive law this month. Two court decisions came down dealing with a woman’s right to harvest the sperm of a deceased relative: one brought by a woman who lost her fiancé and the father of her two-year old child; the other by a mother who wanted to preserve a piece of her 21-year-old son. In other news, an Indiana court reversed an order of adoption granted in 2006 to a New Jersey resident over his adoptive twin sons. Finally, New Mexico has enacted, and Georgia is one step closer to enacting, new laws protecting of donors and recipients.

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May 2009 Reproductive Rights Watch

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Fertility and the Pill

Submitted by Marie Lee on Mon, 05/04/2009 - 06:05

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Fertility and the Pill

a blog by Marie Lee

I get a lot of questions on my blog about the birth control pill and its possible effects on fertility. On a general level, synthetic hormones make me leery. I persuaded my mother to stop her hormone replacement therapy (which her doctor just put her on because “it was time”) even before they found out all the extra estrogen was giving women breast cancer!

Ob-Gyns’ standard line about the pill is that it is totally safe and studies show that it has no effect on fertility. These studies, however, generally look at how long it takes a woman to get pregnant after coming off the pill. They don’t take into account if she miscarries, has a baby with a birth defect, etc.

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Fertility Boosters

Boom or Bust?

Submitted by Liz on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 05:56

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Boom or Bust?

a blog by Liz

I’m sure I’m not the only one cursing myself for not trying to breed earlier in my younger and (probably) more fertile days. At 32 (and 3/4), I am still considered young by doctors, acupuncturists and old-aged pensioners, but, after 2 1/2 years of not getting pregnant, I sure don’t feel it.

We had valid reasons for not trying to get pregnant when we were younger:

• We weren’t mature enough (still have doubts about that one);
• We wanted to establish ourselves in our careers;
• We needed to be in a place that had space for a child; and
• We wanted to have financial security.

Note that three out of four of those reasons for waiting are inextricably linked to cold, hard cash. Which is why trying to have a kid in these credit-crunched times might seem idiotic.*

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Infertility Support

Donor Egg Love

by Dena Fischer

When my husband and I were contemplating using an egg donor, one of the heart-wrenching fears that kept me up at night was that no one would ever say, “He looks just like you.” And if they did offer something like “She has your eyes,” I’d know it couldn’t be true and that innocent comment would rip off the scab that covers the wounds of infertility.

This, and many other questions such as, “Will my husband feel more connected to our baby than I will?; Will I bond with her?; Will my son one day shout, as an angry teen, ‘You’re not my real mother’?” kept me tossing and turning for months. But I swallowed my fears and together we forged ahead to build a family. Now, thanks to the miracles of science and the profound generosity of a gestational carrier and an egg donor, we have vibrant, eternally energetic twin boys.

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Midnight Uncertainties

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