Egg Donor & Surrogacy Law Blog : Surrogacy and Egg Donation Lawyer & Attorney : Theresa Erickson : Erickson Law Firm : Practicing Reproductive and Gestational Carrier Law

Embryo donation & family trees- I found an interesting article today that I thought might provoke some thoughts in both the industry and by those considering this option.  I have included the family tree diagram, which was very interesting and provocative; however, at the same time I felt that shows how diverse families are and how these individuals came together to create several beautiful families - without the children losing their sense of identity.  Let me know your thoughts. 

"Last winter, McLaughlin and her husband, Pat, were given the twins' embryos from a couple in California who had successfully birthed a son. With two children already, their family was complete.

But the California couple never anticipated that four frozen embryos would remain — scant specks in glass pipettes, each about a hundred cells in all and visible only to a microscope.

The McLaughlins are among at least 260 families nationwide each year who successfully have babies after embryo donation, sometimes called embryo adoption.

In the process, the couple have plunged headlong into the dicey ethical, religious and medical debate over the creation and fate of frozen embryos.

It's a debate that Jen McLaughlin, who is Catholic, has tackled with total certainty, grounded in a belief that the embryos are moral equivalents of children.

.....So much so that McLaughlin and the donors are pushing the bounds of a simmering ethical debate on embryo donation even further by rethinking what "family" really means and just how far their children's genetic bonds should go.

Embryo donation sometimes is an anonymous process, with donors and recipients engaging in a cloaked transaction through fertility labs that severs the likelihood of a future child's linking to a genetic past.

But these two couples insisted on an open process so the genetically related children — even the children who still may be born from the two remaining frozen embryos — would stay connected. They felt their children had a right to know their genetic heritage, no matter if their full and half siblings are raised by different parents in different circumstances and most did not come from the same womb."

The story continues, "Social scientists also aren't sure what may come of this. While research suggests open adoption is healthy in traditional circumstances, there is no research on how embryo adopted children may fare in open arrangements. And some worry that parents are imposing sibling relationships on the children without first giving them a choice.

That concern is shared even by some conservative groups that encourage adopting embryos but condemn the technology that made them.

"My concern always in these cases is the adults who are creating all of these confusing relationships, and the way they do it fairly nonchalantly," said Barbara Quigley, executive director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Missouri.

McLaughlin says it's all very simple when you look into the sleeping faces of her twins.

"People are going to look at their photos and agree this is the right thing to do," she said.

All the studies in the world also aren't going to change the embryo donor's convictions about open adoption and donation.

"I think that most people who are researchers have never been adopted," she said. "If they haven't had that experience, they couldn't possibly know what it was like."

So, with tiny baby steps, everyone is moving ahead in this most modern of families, linked genetically and contractually, potentially for a lifetime."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Surrogacy News has been big this week in Australia, specifically in Queensland - and our updates will focus on where this will take the people of Australia in their quest to have a child via surrogacy.  But, first we will start with Indiana, where a couple is fighting for the right to have their names on the birth certificate of their child.

Indiana - The biological parents of a child born via surrogacy are challenging a ruling by the Indiana courts.  The Court of Appeals is to hear arguments this week.  A trial court denied their request as follows:

"A trial court judge denied the biological parents' petition to establish paternity and maternity for the child, ruling that "Indiana law does not permit a non birth mother to establish maternity. Indiana law holds the birth mother is the legal maternal mother."  The surrogate mother filed an affidavit in support of the biological parents' petition.  The biological parents appealed, arguing that the paternity statute denies women equal protection and should be declared unconstitutional."

Facebook & Twitter IVF Fund - Interesting story.  What are your thoughts?

 "The invitation went out by e-mail, Facebook and Twitter almost simultaneously to friends of San Francisco's Molly and Brian Walsh. Its title was tantalizing: "Makin' Whoopie." But its purpose was pure, as well as purely provocative.

"You can't help us in the bedroom, but you can help us make a baby," read the invitation to the party, which may have been a Bay Area first - a fundraiser to collect money for costly fertility procedures. With insurance companies reluctant to pay for the cost of in-vitro fertilization and few states with laws requiring insurers to do so, couples unable to pay for the procedure, which runs $12,000 on average, have few resources other than their own creativity.

Two low-profile national nonprofits, the International Council on Infertility Information Dissemination in Arlington, Va., and BUMPS (Bringing U Maternal and Parental Success) in South Florida, offer in-vitro fertilization services to couples without the money or insurance to pay, and who meet select criteria. Together, they assist fewer than 100 couples annually.

Despite their online know-how, the Walshes had not searched the Web for outsiders' help.

"It never occurred to me to reach out to them - I'd reach out to my own community first," said Molly Walsh, 38, head of business development at USA Hosts/Key Events. Her husband, Brian, 37, is the founder and chief executive of Castfire, a video publishing company. The couple, who met at a friend's house in 2006, are participants in Nevada's Burning Man festival and immersed in social networking, for business and pleasure.

Their decision to go public with a private matter was not easy. They feared backlash because the nature of their crisis was not life-threatening. Moreover, they had already saved $10,000, but were overwhelmed by the cost of the treatment - $25,000 to $30,000 in their case because they also need genetic testing of the fertilized embryos. Brian Walsh has Marfan's syndrome, a connective tissue disease, which they do not want to pass on to their offspring. There is also the race against the fertility clock."

Australia - Non-commercial surrogacy is no longer a crime in Queensland after a weeklong debate where sparks were flying over same sex and single parent surrogacy.  Although they do not expect to see surrogacy occuring in great numbers, many are upset with the results. Unfortunately, many also think that any payments to surrogates under the table will be difficult to stop.  One must note, however, that the surrogate is still entitled to not relinquish the baby.  An important note for those thinking of this as an option there. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Egg Donation - The legislative agenda of Arizona's state lawmakers is now being made public.  In fact, Representative David Stevens, a Sierra State Republican from District 25, is a primary sponsor of the following bills:

He is a primary sponsor of measures that would require physicians to give specific informed-consent information to prospective egg donors; bar the selling of human eggs; and another that bars in vitro fertilization of a human egg with anything but human sperm or the transfer of a human embryo to anything but a human womb.

Not sure where these bills will end up, as the barring of compensation was debated in Arizona in the past.  We all need to pay attention as this reaches the actual stages of debate. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, as well as Adoption put a huge strain on a couple's marriage or partnership.  We all know this whether we acknowledge it or not.  Which is why I teamed up with Expert, Kristen Magnacca, for today's show.  She provides ALOT of great insight for couples who have no where else to go.  There are also issues of jealousy, guilt, sadness, loss, and vulnerability that many choose not to address.  In fact, she noted that couples need to start (together) with the five things to help you, as a couple, survive infertility.

They are as follows:

1.  Write down your dreams
2.  Write down your goals that point you toward those dreams
3.  Focus on your relationship at least once every day, along with focusing on yourself at least once a day
4. Remind each other daily how much love there is between you despite the difficulties you are both now facing
5  Remember your love story - we all have one!

Look to Kristen for further advice - I think, no, I KNOW, that you will not regret it.  I know that I didn't.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Surrogacy,Embryo Donation & Dr. Phil - well, it has been a slow week for news, but again the legislation that is being considered in Tennessee and Oklahoma should cause us all to pause - patients and industry professionals alike.  TGIF!

Chicago - A Federal Appeals Court has upheld the conviction (rightly so) of a woman who scammed would-be parents by posing as a pregnant woman seeking to place her baby for adoption.  She also responded to ads placed by people looking for surrogate mothers with the false claim that she was already pregnant and was planning to give the baby up for adoption.  Beware and be careful out there.  

Dr. Phil - More on the Michigan Surrogacy Debacle - Should a mental illness prevent a woman from being a mother? Shelly made headlines when she agreed to be a surrogate for Amy and Scott, but later reclaimed the babies when she says she discovered that Amy had a mental disorder. It’s an emotional Dr. Phil you don’t want to miss! 

Oklahoma - The state is considering an embryo adoption law similar to Georgia.  As we know this is disasterous as it increased costs to the Intended Parents.  Take action!

Tennessee - This state is also following Georgia with bills on both the Senate and House Floors.  However, the House Bill does not make an adoption petition required, and it does have some good points, such as the maintenance of records for 21 years and the right of the child to obtain information at the age of 18 years.  It does require a written contract.  This bill is much easier to stomach, and actually would do alot of the things that are needed in this industry, including maintenance of records and release of information at the age of majority. 

Italy - The Italian Court has modified the legislation on Assisted Reproduction by finding the previous legislation regarding the protection of all embryos to be unconstitutional.  The future of this is unknown, as it appears that the Parliment will now need to step in, which is unlikely. 

Another great place to watch for legislative updates and where to find a place to help join the fight is Resolve - Take Action! 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Women, Their Bioloigical Clock, and Their Eggs - For women who are contemplating how to balance family and career, there is an important study out of the University of St. Andrews and Edinburgh University in Scotland.  They found that women have lost 90 percent of their eggs by the time they are 30 years old, and only have about 3 percent remaining by the time they are 40.  Well, what does that mean to you?  That means that you need to be proactive in your decisions that you make now, as it may affect your ability to have your own genetic chilldren in the future. 

In fact, the article noted as follows:

"You can't reverse the biological clock, but Savard said there are certain factors within your control that have an impact upon your fertility.
For example, stopping smoking, keeping your weight down and controlling stress can all slow the loss of fertility.
Women who have more pregnancies are fertile for longer, and some women are born with more eggs than others, she said. The more eggs with which a woman is born, the longer she will be fertile and more time she will have until the onset of menopause."

Women need to educate themselves, which is why the Manicures and Martinis series by the American Fertility Association is so important. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Egg Donation and the AFA - the AFA has posted a great article by Dr. Piave Pitisci Lake, who writes as follows regarding utilizing egg donation in creating your family:

"We all think about heredity when we think about having a baby. Who will the baby look like? Who will the baby be like in personality or temperament? Who do we want the baby to be like? Will the baby be healthy or have the illness that “x” relative had? There are some things we hope will be avoided and some things we hope will be passed on. We generally think that we will see something of ourselves, or our family, in our children. After all, our children have 50% of our genes. For those using donor gametes to conceive, the dreams and fantasies (the template) of what our children will be like are half complete.

We all have assumptions about what is nature (genetics) and what is nurture. Who we are is, of course, determined on the most basic level by our genes. But the role of genes in determining what we look like, whether we have certain diseases or are at increased risk to have certain diseases, our mental abilities, interests, talents, etc., is very complex.

Diseases, conditions, and traits (abnormal and normal) can be inherited through single-gene defects, chromosomal abnormalities, and in a multifactorial way. Human cells have 46 chromosomes-22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes and 1 pair of sex chromosomes (XX, XY). Chromosomes are made up of many genes. Genes are made of DNA. Each chromosome of a pair contains the same genetic information, but there might be slight differences. We have identified many disorders caused single-gene defects or chromosomal abnormalities. These can be detected through information about family history as well as genetic or chromosomal testing. We can also predict the risk of inheritance of these diseases with significant accuracy. Diseases that are inherited in a multifactorial way are also genetically determined and may be found to cluster in families, but the specific genes are not well known. In addition, the expression of the disease depends on the interaction of multiple genes and environmental circumstances. The risk of inheritance of these conditions is less clear. It depends on the disease in question, its severity, and the number of family members affected....

Ultimately, who we are, who our children are and the factors that influence our development are very complex and beyond our ability to reduce our offspring to simple cause and effect. We like to think we have an idea of what our children will be like if we are using our own gametes because we are familiar with what has come before us and because genes from a familiar gene pool are being used. We also have ideas of the parts of ourselves we would like to see (or not see) in our children. Maybe they can be a better version of us. For recipients of donor gametes, half of what will influence whom the child will be is unknown. Recipients are forced to speculate based on information available in the donor profile or from meeting the donor and their own assumptions about what this will mean for their offspring. As much as genes determine who we are, it is the interaction of genes and environment that shape us and, on many levels, the result of this process is unknowable. Our children are who they are, not whom we think their genes say they are."

Another great resource is Marna Gatlin at PVED.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Surrogacy, Adoption & Creating Your Family via Many Routes - Rosie O'Donnell, love her or hate her, you should watch this show next week.  This is really not a legal update, but I couldn't help myself.  The show airs Sunday on HBO at 7pm EST. 

Happy Friday!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Great show today with Andrea Bryman, LMFT, on the psychological aspects of surrogacy.  Have a listen - it is a great show!

Surrogacy Done Right Radio Show!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks