At a crossroads: 4 infertility journeys

Infertility is the roadblock to starting a family that most do not expect.

It can silence dreams, dash hopes, challenge any faith and drive a wedge between two people who only wanted to bring a new life into the world.

Some try to overcome this complication by pursuing various treatments, adoption or surrogacy. These pathways can be fraught with even more challenges: emptied pockets, medical scares, failure and emotional turmoil.

We asked our readers to share these stories of their journeys during Infertility Awareness Week. They opened up about their successes and failures, their tears and smiles.

Here are four personal pathways through infertility:

Striving for a dream
Caitlin and Jeff Morton, a young and healthy couple, began trying to start a family three years ago. Within two months of buying a house, Caitlin was pregnant, her husband surprised her with a fancy stroller and they were overjoyed at the thought of becoming parents.

The cramping and bleeding began almost immediately, and Caitlin knew something was wrong. She demanded her blood be tested to make sure that everything was OK.

She miscarried soon after.

In pain, and feeling helpless, Caitlin lay in Jeff's arms on the couch, waiting for her body to pass the baby.

"I remember sitting there holding the tissue with the embryo on it, just crying," Caitlin wrote in her iReport. "Nothing could have prepared me for that."

They conceived naturally twice more, and Caitlin miscarried both times. After seeing a specialist and determining that she and her husband were truly healthy, they decided to try intrauterine insemination, a fertility treatment that places sperm inside the uterus to encourage fertilization.

They made three attempts, with no success.

A year later, Caitlin was pregnant again.

This time, the pain was so crippling that Caitlin felt paralyzed from the waist down. The black ultrasound revealed that she was bleeding internally from an ectopic pregnancy, meaning the embryo had formed outside of her uterus and inside a fallopian tube, causing a rupture.

Caitlin had to have emergency surgery. They removed the ruptured fallopian tube and discovered that her other tube was severely damaged. Caitlin realized she would never be able to naturally conceive again.

Now, Caitlin and Jeff will pursue in vitro fertilization.

"This is a very stressful journey: very expensive and trying on your emotion, body and marriage," Caitlin said. "I have been blessed with an amazing family, friends and husband who allowed me to grieve. I still to this day have pain from my emergency surgery. But what we hold on to is hope that we will someday have a baby."

Infertility: Why don't more people talk about it?

Life, loss and a miracle
After trying to conceive naturally for a year without success, Chris and Amy Skaggs decided to try IVF in 2008. They thought the emotional, physical and financial strain would be worth it if they could have a child. But it didn't work.

Eager to be a family, Amy and Chris spent the next two years preparing to adopt. While waiting to hear back on their dossier for an international adoption, the Skaggs' learned of a pregnant young woman in their area who would be placing her baby up for adoption. Amy went with her for their regular appointments. But the young woman miscarried.

Amy and Chris decided to pursue an IVF treatment again, this time with a new doctor who wanted to try things differently.

In December 2010, the young couple learned that they were pregnant with twins. But they were concerned because Amy was tiny, perhaps too small to carry twins. The twins, Leighton and Jaxon, were born at 28 weeks in May 2011-- barely over 2 pounds each. The "little fighters" were put on additional oxygen for three weeks.

In June, at 21 days old, Leighton came down with a fever and 48 hours later, she passed away. Chris and Amy were devastated.

But Jaxon pulled through and after 74 days in the NICU, they were able to bring him home in August 2011.

"We finally had our family; one baby on earth and one in heaven," the couple wrote in their iReport.

Chris and Amy created Leighton's Gift, a 501(c)(3) public charity to honor the daughter they lost. They hope it will help other families with babies in the NICU.

They wanted a sibling for Jaxon and decided to try IVF for a third time, but it didn't work. They would have to pursue an egg donor.

The donor egg worked for Amy, and she was able to carry the baby for 37 weeks. Olivia was born in November 2013, giving Jaxon the sister they had always wanted for him.

The Skaggs' also have frozen embryos from their donor, in case they want to grow their family.

"Throughout our infertility story, we learned tremendous lessons in patience, humility, unconditional love, persistence, determination, advocacy, understanding and strength," the Skaggs' said.

A family for Kassidy
After marrying in 2007, Tiffany and Todd Ray wanted to start a family. But Tiffany had a unicornuate uterus, half the size of a normal uterus with only one fallopian tube, so they started fertility treatments.

They paid out of pocket for three cycles of intrauterine insemination, two cycles of IVF and two frozen embryo transfers, all of which resulted in four first trimester miscarriages.

The couple was looking into adoption when Tiffany learned that she had become pregnant naturally, which seemed miraculous given their past struggles.

But an ultrasound revealed that the baby had a neural tube defect, resulting in an absence of the brain and portion of the skull. The Rays had to make the heartbreaking decision to terminate the pregnancy in light of the fatal diagnosis.

After it was over, Tiffany sat in recovery with other women.

"I cried for my baby, I cried for the women around me, and I cried because I wanted what so many of them ended," Tiffany wrote in her iReport.

Picking up the adoption thread again, the Rays learned through an agency in Indiana that there was a young, pregnant woman who wanted to place her baby with them.

Even after the expensive fertility treatments and termination, the Rays put thousands of dollars toward helping the birth mother through her pregnancy. They formed a close relationship with her as well and traveled from their home in Pennsylvania to Indiana multiple times.

Two days before the baby was due, the birth mother texted the Rays that she wanted to be a parent. Their financial and emotional investments had been for nothing. The Rays were devastated.

But their hopes were fulfilled when a friend called to tell them about a baby girl who had been brought into foster care and placed with her great-grandmother. The elderly woman had heard about the Rays and wanted the child to be placed with them. They immediately became foster parents for little Kassidy.

"And nine months later, we finalized her adoption, and Kassidy became a Ray," Tiffany said.

DNA on ice: The next step in women's equality

Hoping for a baby, inheriting a family
Nikki and Matt Cobleigh were married for 10 years before they made the decision to have a child together.

At age 34 in 2009, Nikki began fertility treatments. In between each failed intrauterine insemination, the couple would take a consolation trip to incredible destinations, such as Costa Rica or India or Buenos Aires.

But in truth, Nikki was emotionally drained by each failed IUI. She joined a support group through RESOLVE, the national infertility association, for motivation to keep trying.

After three IUIs, a sonohysterogram revealed that her uterus was filled with polyps. She had to have surgery to remove them and wait before trying any other treatments.

After a time, Nikki tried IVF. They ended up with eight viable embryos to freeze and then began the process of an egg transfer. Because of the progesterone Nikki was taking, she felt like it had worked -- the treatments simulate all of the symptoms of pregnancy.

But the transfers didn't work. They lost five embryos. Nikki says it was like losing five children.

They had only three left when Nikki realized that her body's tendency to create surplus scar tissue had resulted in her uterus growing shut after the surgery to remove the polyps. They had lost five embryos for nothing.

"It was one of the hardest days of my life, realizing that," Nikki said.

Nikki and Matt reached out to a surrogacy agency when she realized conceiving on her own wouldn't be possible.

She endured one more IVF treatment to create more embryos for freezing.

The couple discussed what they wanted in a surrogate -- someone with a clean life that excluded drinking or drugs, came from a good family structure and living in Utah. They worked into the night on their wish list.

That same night, in Park City, Utah, Angela Haymond submitted her application to become a surrogate. The single mother of two boys, 9 and 11, had always known she wanted to be a surrogate and help another couple bring a child into the world.

The Cobleighs were matched with Angela through the surrogacy program. Using Nikki's frozen embryos, Angela would carry twins for the Cobleighs.

It was a match made in heaven, Nikki said. Angela became like one of the family to the Cobleighs. They talked on the phone every day, went to appointments together and flew back and forth for visits. More than a contractual relationship, the two families bonded.

Slowly, Nikki's mourning for the fact that she couldn't carry the twins herself was replaced with the excitement of becoming a mother.

Nine months later in March 2014, when Nikki was finally able to hold the twins, Lily and Kai, all of the protective barriers she had built around herself fell away.

"It was like my heart melted in that moment," Nikki said. "I let my heart welcome being a mom."

The Haymonds and the Cobbleighs have become even closer over time. They spend Christmas and other holidays together. By helping Nikki and Matt's family expand, Angela's own family has grown.

"Our pathways were meant to cross," Angela said. "It has been such a joy to see them become a family."

Sources: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/21/health/infertility-journeys-ireport/

GAY MEN CONTINUE TO CREATE FAMILIES THROUGH SURROGACY

THE last five years has seen a significant increase in gay Australian men creating families through surrogacy. Despite negative press surrounding a handful of surrogacy Once restricted to fairly expensive USA options, recent years have seen many working with surrogates in Australia, India, Thailand, and more recently Nepal and Mexico.

Last year, the Baby Gammy scandal shone the media spotlight on overseas surrogacy. Thai authorities were furious that compensated surrogacy had thrived under their watch, not just because it went against medical council guidelines but Thai cultural norms.

To those gay intended parents caught up in the confusion, the year was stressful, but emphasised the importance of education, communication and connection. Certainly one outcome has been greater enthusiasm amongst intended parents to locate a surrogate at home.

Families Through Surrogacy’s annual Australian conference on May 16-17 in Sydney will help scores of intended gay dads from around the country work through many of these changes. For the first time, there will be sessions from parents and providers regarding not only local options but the US, Nepal and Mexico.

Amongst the 32 sessions, highlights include practical, panels of surrogates on how to successfully match with a surrogate; talks from parents and older children born through surrogacy. This year will have increased focus on Australian & US options.

One gay Sydneysider talking, Clinton Bryan-Mathieson had always wanted a family. Clinton and his partner Callum are in their early thirties. For Clinton, the deal-breaker question when they started dating in 2010 was kids. He tackled it head on: “I want a family. Do you?” Callum had met someone pretty special and he was on the same page.

Clinton’s sister Rhiannon had been offering to carry for her brother since he was 20. By now she had three kids of her own and the offer was still there. However she had separated from her own husband 18 months earlier and was living near Melbourne. The boys were in Sydney.

To ensure legal parentage of their son or daughter, the boys knew they needed to go by the book. This meant investment in legal and psychological counselling for not only Rhiannon and themselves, but her ex-partner also. As well, they’d need to find an egg donor and stump up for Rhiannon’s IVF costs (surrogacy doesn’t attract a Medicare rebate). Even if successful first time, there would little change from $60,000.

Beyond cost, the biggest hurdle was locating an egg donor. They discovered a donor forum www.eggdonationaustralia.com.au, but donors need to pick you, not vice versa. After months of no success, they almost walked away, until a forum moderator explained how to engage in the forums so donors noticed them.

“You are meant to make your story as personal as possible” Clinton says.

“You need to engage in other people’s posts as well, so readers see your personality.”

Sources: http://www.starobserver.com.au/life-style/gay-men-continue-to-create-families-through-surrogacy/135270

Surrogacy laws may be a bridge too far for Australia

Last year an Australian "commissioning" couple left a child diagnosed with Down Syndrome with his surrogate mother in Thailand. Last week we heard that another Australian couple wished to bring back to Australia only one of "their" twins born to an Indian surrogate mother.

Attorney-General George Brandis is considering a recommendation from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs that there be an inquiry into the regulatory and legislative aspects of surrogacy.

Infertility is the cause of a lot of pain for many Australian couples. You would have to be very hard-hearted not to sympathise with couples who, because of medical issues or other circumstances, are not able to have children. I truly sympathise with them and understand why some seek surrogacy as a way to circumvent infertility. They want a child to love.

For very many children, adoption is also a great blessing and benefit for which they will always be grateful.

However, surrogacy causes difficulties for children and for the surrogate mothers who bear them. Some people emphasise the difficulties for the child; others emphasise the difficulties for women who become surrogates.  

Surrogacy makes it very difficult for a child to understand their origins and identity. Our family links are an important part of who we are. Surrogacy puts a question mark over the child's parentage. As many as three women may share the role of "mother": a woman who donates the egg, a woman who carries the child to birth, a woman who raises the child. And the child's biological father may be merely the donor of the sperm.

Surrogacy intentionally violates a child's right to be brought up - if it is possible - by their natural parents. Surrogacy intentionally breaks the gestational link between the child and her natural mother. A deeply ingrained bond is created between mother and child by nine months of sacrifice, love and care. For the first nine months, it is the mother's voice the child hears. Having been intimately connected with her body, the child will always have unique physical and psychological connections with the woman who  gave birth to them. For this reason, it is now widely recognised that adopted children have the right to know who their biological parents are, if that is possible.

Surrogacy repeats many of the mistakes we Australians have made in the past. Children born of anonymous sperm donation - and the adults they become - come to mind. They so often long to know and to have a relationship with their natural parents. They tell us that they grieve over the loss of relationship with their natural siblings.

Overseas, where "commercial" surrogacy is allowed, there is a clear power disparity between the relatively affluent commissioning couples and relatively poor women who act as surrogates. Surrogate mothers must work hard to ensure that they do not form a bond with the child during pregnancy. Of course surrogacy is not ordinary work: it involves the woman's whole body and her whole life.

The Baby Gammy case was significant because it revealed the workings of the market: the child seems to have been rejected because - as a product - he did not come up to expectations.

However, so-called "altruistic" surrogacy, though it removes that commercial element, is ethically troubling in other ways. Where relatives are involved, as is often the case, a potential surrogate may feel she has an obligation to help, and the conflicted nature of the child's identity within the family will persist over a lifetime. Identity is not something that can be simply chosen.

The Immigration Department receives about 250 citizenship applications a year on behalf of children born overseas as a result of "commercial" surrogacy. It is being asked to deal with situations presented as a fait accompli: the child has been born and the surrogate mother has agreed to hand it over. Our citizenship laws are not made to deal with this difficult problem.  

However, rather than revising our laws so as to facilitate arrangements which intentionally sever the bond between mother and child, we need to consider whether it really is possible to enact laws which, on the one hand, are just to the children born of surrogacy and to their surrogate mothers and, on the other, are compassionate to infertile couples. That may be a bridge too far.

Sources: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/surrogacy-laws-may-be-a-bridge-too-far-for-australia-20150420-1mosw7.html

Commercial surrogacy should be legalised, Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant says.

The Chief Justice of the Family Court has called for the immediate legalisation of commercial surrogacy in Australia.

In a wide-ranging speech in Brisbane last night, Justice Diana Bryant told journalists that current laws were driving couples to enter into unethical arrangements overseas.

She said two disturbing cases of child abandonment in India and Thailand should force the Federal Government to act.

Justice Bryant said Australian women should be able to be paid to be a surrogate mother.

"I personally think we should regulate and allow commercial surrogacy in Australia," she said.

"If we allow it in Australia, we then can regulate it and ensure that it's done on ethical terms."

Justice Bryant said a national inquiry was needed.

"I think the Government could eliminate some of the worst aspects of international surrogacy by devising some ethical requirements that need to be met before intending parents are permitted to bring a child back into Australia," she said.

In Australia, it is illegal to pay a woman to carry a child for someone else, except in the Northern Territory where there are no laws concerning surrogacy.

In the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and New South Wales, it is also a criminal offence to arrange a contracted surrogacy in another country.

But the threat of prosecution had not deterred thousands of Australian couples from going overseas to pay a surrogate mother.

Justice Diana Bryant said when they arrived home with a baby, there were many ethical and legal dilemmas, especially when an egg donor had been used.

"That child is never going to know their biological mother, and in those cases, there is absolutely no opportunity for them ever to find out," she said.

"The knowing the biological parentage for me would be one of the first steps and I think we have a responsibility as a country to make sure the worse aspects of commercial surrogacy are overcome."

Professor Jenni Millbank from the University of Technology in Sydney, who is an expert in family law, said she supported the legalisation of commercial surrogacy in Australia.

"A number of leading thinkers, policy makers and researchers in Australia are coming to a consensus that we need to liberalise domestic surrogacy," she said.

"We just have a head-in-the-sand approach of saying, 'money's changed hands - it must be bad - we'll ignore it'."

The president of Surrogacy Australia, Robert Reith, agrees.

"It's been far too long that surrogacy has been frowned upon or action not taken by governments to stem the flow of people looking for a surrogacy option in Australia and only to be forced overseas to unregulated markets," he said.

After years of looking, Mr Reith and his wife had just found a surrogate, but under current laws they would be unable to pay her for carrying their child.

"Just the fact that we can't even compensate them for giving us, potentially, the most precious gift of all, is just unreal," he said.

Sources: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-18/commercial-surrogacy-should-be-legalised-family-court-justice/6402924

Paid surrogacy will work here if we do it with care

WITH the news this week of another Australian couple abandoning a baby overseas, it’s time to talk seriously about surrogacy and law reform.

This latest case, uncovered by the ABC, is reminiscent of last year’s high-profile Baby Gammy case, but has some key differences: this abandonment happened in 2012, the baby boy was healthy and it was arranged for him to be adopted out to another family, rather than leaving the, presumably impoverished, surrogate holding the baby.

But what both these stories have in common is that the commissioning parents spent a lot of money and effort to buy children, without considering or caring about what would happen if something went wrong. In this case, the family abandoned the boy and only took the girl because they said they couldn’t afford a second child, which, considering the family could afford commercial surrogacy, raises some red flags.

In 1988, before I grew up and became a person, I was known as Baby Alice. Children in the media can get the moniker of “Baby First Name” because of something very good, or something very bad. Luckily, I was “Baby Alice” for a good reason: I had parents who wanted a child so much, and have such a supportive family, that I became Australia’s first IVF surrogate child and the second in the world.

Even in those early days, my parents thought through every contingency. As is often the case, two embryos were transferred, so they had to consider what they’d do if there were two of me, or what if one or both of us was severely disabled. They decided that they would love and care for their children no matter how many, how healthy or unbearably awesome they happened to be.

They also worked out that even if my aunt Linda (my intensive babysitter/surrogate) discovered she couldn’t give up the baby, that they would simply dote on their new niece and swallow their disappointment.

Linda wasn’t paid to have me; she was in it for the adventure, another experience of childbirth and to gain a fairly fantastic niece.

For a long time, I thought that altruistic surrogacy was the only way to go, but my stance has evolved. If you don’t treat the child you commissioned as a commodity, but instead as a child that you love, and you’re open and honest about the entire process from the beginning, there is no reason for that child to be adversely affected by their origin.

And, frankly, it’s unfair that the women who are risking the most in this situation aren’t allowed to be compensated in Victoria for their potentially life-threatening act of generosity.

Australia needs to catch up with the rest of the world and introduce national surrogacy laws that allow for commercial surrogacy in a safe, regulated environment. It needs to happen soon, but since there wasn’t a legal framework for surrogacy in Victoria until I was 20, I won’t hold my breath.

More than that, though, we need to talk about how parents going through surrogacy, donor conception and even something as basic as IVF sometimes lose sight of the fact they’re going to end up with an actual child, not just a baby. Those processes take years and so often I see the parents’ dream of a baby start to twist, just slightly. It makes sense: the process is long and thinking about there being a real person at the end of it, one who will probably live with them for the next 30 years, can be too much, too many dreams to deal with all at once, all the time.

So before anyone embarks on this journey, they need to keep some things in mind: why do they want a baby? Can they handle raising a disabled child?

If they can’t handle having a disabled child, are they and their surrogate OK with aborting the foetus? Are they prepared for the scenario of multiple births? And are they willing to tell their child the whole story of their origin early, often and with pride?

People trying to have a child the regular way should probably think those things through, too, though they really shouldn’t tell their kids about their origin too often: that would be gross.

Surrogacy can be a beautiful, generous thing, but only if we do it mindfully.

Sources: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/paid-surrogacy-will-work-here-if-we-do-it-with-care/story-fni0ffsx-1227306908254

Oregon's paid surrogates are choice for same-sex couples around world

The first time Carey Flamer-Powell gave birth, she delivered a girl and took her home. The second time, she delivered a boy and sent him to Georgia.

Flamer-Powell, 38, was a gestational surrogate, paid to carry the boy by his future parents, a lesbian couple. As a lesbian herself who'd struggled with infertility, Flamer-Powell found her experience so stirring that in August 2014 she set up a surrogacy agency catering to gay and lesbian clients. Eight months later, All Families Surrogacy does a brisk business from a third-floor office in the Beaverton Round Executive Suites, drawing clients from around the world.

In a convergence of medical advances and cultural shifts, Oregon has quietly become an international destination for gestational surrogacy, an industry banned in many states and countries. Couples from all over the world, especially gay and lesbian couples, come to the state and pay $100,000 or more for the chance to become biological parents, a transaction that mixes business with joy and wraps the resulting babies in a bundle of practical, legal and ethical questions.

Intended parents from countries of all stripes - Israel, Argentina, China, Australia, France, Sweden, Ecuador, Canada, Germany, Egypt - are flocking to All Families and other Oregon surrogacy agencies for a combination of reasons, said those working in the field:

Oregon has no law against gestational surrogacy. Some states, such as Washington, forbid any paid surrogacy; Oregon surrogates are advised not to travel to Washington in their third trimester. In other states, surrogacy is legal for heterosexual married couples but not for same-sex couples.

Oregon has a pre-birth procedure for amending a birth certificate so it bears the names of the intended parents and not the surrogate's. The procedure, devised by Beaverton lawyer Robin Pope about eight years ago, allows the intended parents to bypass a court hearing through a process called declaratory judgment. As a result, establishing legal parentage is "very straightforward" in Oregon, Pope said. The procedure puts Oregon "really ahead of quite a few states," said Judy Sperling-Newton, director of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys (AAARTA) and an owner of The Surrogacy Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Oregon is home to several nationally known fertility clinics that have high success rates with in vitro fertilization and live births. John Chally, an adoption attorney and co-founder of the 21-year-old Northwest Surrogacy Center in Portland, said he remembers 25 percent pregnancy rates in the early days of gestational surrogacy. Now fertility clinics are so sure of success they are willing to transfer only one or two embryos at a time.

Oregon surrogates are seen as particularly desirable. "We have a good reputation in terms of being healthy, (having) prenatal care, taking care of themselves," said Adrienne Black, a former surrogate who founded a Eugene surrogacy agency, Heart to Hands Surrogacy, in 2011. Geri Chambers, another former surrogate who owns the 5-year-old Greatest Gift Surrogacy Center in Sherwood, agreed: "We're definitely more of an organic, plant-based, natural type of surrogate."

Oregon surrogacy is less expensive, relatively speaking. "It seems like the fees for all of these things are a little less than in California or on the East Coast," Black said.

Read More Here: http://www.oregonlive.com/kiddo/index.ssf/2015/04/surrogacy_in_oregon.html

China institutes strict measures against surrogate births

The central government has said it will take a tougher stance on surrogacy, a practice that has grown underground in China as infertility has increased.

“Surrogacy upsets the natural order of childbirth and poses potential health risks,” the statement said. It added the practice contradicts the government’s population policy.

A health commission spokesman later said that regulators will ban any businesses related to the practice.

This is the strongest signal about surrogate motherhood that the government has ever sent. China has no law on surrogacy, but in 2001, health officials banned the trading of fertilized eggs and embryos, and prohibited hospitals from assisting surrogate pregnancies.

These rules forced the practice underground, and the industry uses the Internet to advertise and provide information to people.

As part of the crackdown, Internet and telecom regulators will prohibit content about surrogacy from appearing on the net, and the health commission will order newspapers and magazines to remove all surrogacy-service-related information from their publications and sites.

Medical institutions, doctors and middlemen involved in the business will be punished according to the law and regulations, the statement said. Medical equipment and drugs that are used in surrogacy will also be monitored.

Sources: http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/04/15/china-institutes-strict-measures-against-surrogate-births/

Family Court chief seeks surrogacy law change

Australia should urgently legalise commercial surrogacy, says the Family Court’s Chief Justice, Diana Bryant.

Justice Bryant will be the keynote speaker this week at a lecture and discussion hosted by The University of Queensland’s TC Beirne School of Law and the Australian Association of Women Judges.

Justice Bryant said laws should be standardised across the states and territories to avoid complex court cases and to end uncertainty for surrogate babies, mothers and contracting parents.

“The law must keep up with scientific and societal changes,” Justice Bryant said.

“Commercial surrogacy is not legal in Australia, but some fear this is driving people overseas to do it.

“Parents who return to Australia with a surrogate baby – especially those who have made surrogacy arrangements in breach of the law in their state of residence – face complications in the Family Court system.

“This causes great stress for all concerned.”

Justice Bryant said the legal issues surrounding surrogacy reflected the fast-evolving nature of family law, particularly concerning reproductive rights.

Contracting parents and governments were ignoring a child’s right to know its biological parents, in contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Justice Bryant said the “Baby Gammy” case in Thailand last year brought surrogacy to public prominence, highlighting the lack of protection for overseas surrogate mothers, the grey areas around unwanted children and the current lack of checks on the suitability of contracting parents.

Justice Bryant’s lecture will examine current laws and discuss models for legal change.

Panellists at the event will be Justice Roslyn Atkinson AO; Chief Judge John Pascoe AO CVO, Federal Circuit Court of Australia; Professor Andreas Schloenhardt from the TC Beirne School of Law and Stephen Page, Partner at Harrington Family Lawyers.

The event will be at the Banco Court, Supreme Court, Brisbane, from 5.30pm this Friday (17 April).

Sources: http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2015/04/family-court-chief-seeks-surrogacy-law-change

Australia's Julie Bishop backs officials over India surrogacy

Australia's foreign minister has backed consulate officials in India over the case of a couple who rejected a baby born to an Indian surrogate.

The Australian couple had twins through the surrogate in 2012 but only kept the girl; the boy went to an Indian couple.

The couple said they could not afford to keep both babies.

Julie Bishop, speaking on a visit to India, said she believed staff at the consulate and the foreign affairs department had "acted professionally".

The row comes in the wake of the birth last year of a baby with Down's syndrome to a surrogate mother in Thailand. The baby was left in Thailand while his twin sister went home with Australian parents.

That case sparked intense debate in Australia about international surrogacy agreements.

Emails and other messages between Australian officials in Delhi and Canberra show the couple - who have not been named - travelled to India in late 2012 to seek citizenship for a baby girl.

What the parents said to the Australian High Commission staff in Delhi over what would happen to the baby boy left behind remains unclear.

However, they told Australian consular staff that the twin brother would be left behind because they could not afford to keep him.

They said they already had a son at home and wanted to "complete their family" with a girl.

They reportedly told officials that the boy would be given to friends in India "who were unable to conceive a child".

The documents, first obtained by Australian broadcaster ABC, revealed that Australian officials had raised concerns that the baby boy could be left stateless as India "did not recognise surrogate children as citizens".

A cable from High Commission staff to Canberra early in 2013 said: "The proposed adoptive parents are in fact not close family friends of the biological parents, but are known to the biological parents through a mutual friend."

Ms Bishop said, quoted by ABC, said it was "a matter for the Indian authorities as it always was".

"There was only one application for citizenship, as it was, Australia could only act on the application that was made, but subsequently we have determined that the adoption was valid and that the Indian authorities are now in charge of the matter."

But she said Australian officials were continuing to stress that people entering into surrogacy arrangements checked both the legal situation in their home state and in the country they were hoping to adopt from.

Sources: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-32313046

Beijing tries new tack in fight to stem surrogacy tide

China's health authorities announced last week they would join forces with the police and 10 other government agencies to enforce a ban on surrogate births.

The initiative, which will go until the end of 2015, aims to clamp down the birth alternative as it "severely interferes with China's lawful infertility treatments and the natural means by which married couples bear children, damages public health and impacts the implementation of the national birth policy," according to a note on the website of National Health and Family Planning Commission.

While surrogate birth is illegal under Chinese law, underground surrogate mothers and various services in the name of surrogacy provided by sex workers have thrived, reports our Chinese language sister paper Want Daily.

In China, many married couples with fertility problems have looked for alternatives to have a baby of their own, even if it is against the law. With business booming, other illegal trades in the name of surrogate birth services, mainly prostitution, have also mushroomed in the dark.

The internet, given its anonymity, has served as a haven for service providers for both surrogate birth and sex workers, and has become a major obstacle for control by authorities, the report said.

Many of the sex rings advertised on social networking media like instant messaging apps WeChat or the Sina Weibo, claim to provide surrogate services in the form of cohabitation. No necessary details such as the medical procedures were given; the ads merely suggest that the services involve sexual intercourse.

Some agents claim to provide "foreign ovum," and display photos of young, beautiful Thai ladies said to be potential surrogate mothers and ovum donors. It is unclear whether these agents actually mediate between foreign surrogate mothers and sterile couples.

There are home businesses getting in on the action too. A young woman claiming to be 19 posted a message online saying that she would be a surrogate mother for 300,000 yuan (US$4,800), and that "the odds of getting pregnant is minimum," a rather clear statement that she would be providing services other than giving birth to a child.

Sources: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150414000072&cid=1103

Fresh surrogacy concerns over boy abandoned in India

Australian officials could do almost nothing to stop Australian parents from abandoning their baby son, born through surrogacy in India, after the couple decided they did not want to bring him to Australia.

In documents that raise fresh concerns over overseas surrogacy arrangements, government cables and emails show that Department of Foreign Affairs staff told an Australian couple that they could leave their son "stateless" if they did not apply for Australian citizenship for him.

The documents, released under Freedom of Information and first reported by the ABC, show Australian officials struggling to deal with the case of a couple from NSW who had twins - a boy and a girl - born to an Indian surrogate in 2012.

The husband approached the Department of Immigration in December 2012, saying that he and his wife only wanted to take the baby girl back home, explaining to officials "they could not afford to support both children".

"He also stated that they already had a boy and wanted to take the girl to complete their family."

"Our ability to ensure the welfare of a non-Australian child in a foreign jurisdiction is limited," an official cable sent in late 2012 says, while other messages call for "urgent" advice from government colleagues.

"To date, we have not confronted a situation where a child born through surrogacy arrangements is put up for adoption."

The husband also told officials that he and his wife wanted to adopt the child out to close family friends who lived in India. Officials later became aware the prospective adoptive parents were only known to the biological parents through a mutual friend.

It is understood that the baby boy was left behind when his parents returned to Australia.

Last year, Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant told the ABC that officials had told her they were concerned money had exchanged hands in the process of adopting the boy, which she said could be human trafficking.

Under state legislation, it is also illegal for NSW residents to enter into overseas commercial surrogacy arrangements.

The case of the baby boy comes after last year's baby Gammy case, where a little boy with Down Syndrome was left in Thailand by his biological Australian parents.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, who is currently travelling in India, has been contacted for comment.

Sources: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/fresh-surrogacy-concerns-over-boy-abandoned-in-india-20150414-1mjyj3.html

Campaign against Surrogacy in garb of Medical tourism

‘Baby bump’, considered a metaphor for pregnancy, but is synonymous to surrogate women that their identity is never remembered. Surrogacy has become the other mask of the medical tourism flourishing in many district towns of Andhra Pradesh.

The concept of surrogacy (technically ‘Assisted Reproductive Technologies’) has many facets. It is taboo to discuss for the conservative circles, a cash cow for the fertility industry comprising agents and the clinics taking up In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), but finally, it is a source of inexplicable pain and harassment for the target women.

The wish of the privileged to have baby as per their choice often takes a toll on the poorer women in the society’s underbelly. ‘Can we see the baby bump please?’ a 41-minute-film directed by Surabhi Sharma, highlights the concealed side of ‘medical tourism’, a refined term for commercial surrogacy. The film also captures the mood of the women going for ‘reproductive labour’ in tune with the wish of the couples engaging their services. This is the first screening in Andhra Pradesh, while it has already been shown in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, apart from USA, Germany and Sri Lanka.

“Domestic hands are the common target groups, as the ‘carriers’ are required to be from the poorer sections in need of money, but not physically too weak,” explain Anindita and Simran of ‘Sama’, the Delhi-based resource group for women and health that arranged the film screening. Sama demands an organized system in place and effective monitoring mechanism to ensure the health and rights of the women getting into surrogacy.

Sources: http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2015-04-13/Campaign-against-Surrogacy-in-garb-of-Medical-tourism-143932

SUPERMUM: Surrogate mother having 11th baby at Scunthorpe General Hospital

BRITAIN'S first surrogate mother has described a woman about to give birth to her 11th surrogate child at Scunthorpe General Hospital as an angel.

Kim Cotton became the UK's first surrogate mother in 1985 and she has praised Karla Kirkby – one of the country's most prolific surrogates – for giving couples the gift of a newborn baby.

Karla, who lives in Brigg and has two children of her own, has so far had 10 surrogate babies and is due to give birth to number 11 at the end of May.

Kim said: "Karla is blessed with fertility and she is like an angel.

"It is very rare to have someone like Karla.

"In terms of surrogates who have had 10 or more, we are probably talking about four or five in the UK."

Kim, a mother-of-two herself, is acting chair and founder of voluntary organisation Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS). It provides advice, help and support to surrogates and intended parents.

Kim, who gave birth to three surrogate babies, said: "We have between 50 and 55 births a year at the moment.

"We are always looking for potential surrogate mothers out there.

"It is a fantastic way to, I think, make use of your time at home.

"When you are bringing up your own little ones, this buys you more to stay at home with your own children.

"It is a way of making use of this time that you are housebound.

"You are sharing your fertility with a more unfortunate person that may not be able to have children.

"We have never, ever had a surplus of surrogates.

"We are always seeking surrogates and it is very difficult."

Kim said the "feel-good" factor is the reason many women choose to become a surrogate.

She said: "It is very addictive. The feel-good factor is so amazing – it is that feeling of having changed someone's life.

"It is a very powerful emotion and it is very hard to know when to stop.

"A lot will stop when they cannot conceive and I do worry about the risk of multiple pregnancies.

"In the olden days before the pill, people were having 15/16 children and I think financially bringing up that many children is impossible. It is not the same as surrogacy.

"There is wear and tear on the body but you are not caring for this child – you are giving them away.

"You can go home, recover and get on with your own life."

Sources: http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/SURROGATE-MUM-0F-11-ANGEL/story-26303140-detail/story.html

'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' News, Update: Kim Kardashian Could Use Surrogate for Second Baby?

It is highly likely that Kim Kardashian-West would need to use a surrogate if ever she and husband Kanye West decide to have another child. Kim, 34, who gave birth to her first child North West in June 2013, apparently developed a problem in her uterus after she gave birth, which meant that she might not be able to carry another baby.

In the latest episode of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," Kim was told that a proposed operation to remove parts of her placenta stuck in her uterus after her last birth would expose her to risks if she got pregnant again.

An emotional Kim said, ''There is nothing more on this earth that I want more than to be pregnant again and to go through that experience, I would pay any amount of money to have that."

Kim also said that surrogacy "...is really scary for me, I don't want one, I don't want that to be my reality."

If ever, it will be "...my last resort, surrogacy. As much as I hated being pregnant, and I complained every step of the way and joked that I didn't want one, I really don't want a surrogate."

She added, "I wouldn't dare ask anyone to do this for me. It freaks me out, what if they're a lunatic, what if they run off with my baby? I can't do it, I just can't."

Kim, who had been very open about her desire to have another baby with husband Kanye West said, ''I complained so much about being pregnant, I never thought I would be begging to be again. Trying for baby number two is not fun like baby number one."

During the same episode, Kris Jenner, Kim's mother, dangled the possibility of having Kim's sister Kourtney as a surrogate. Kourtney, who has had three kids with her partner Scott Dissick, also famously offered to be the surrogate for her other sister Khloe and then husband Lamar Odom's baby when Khloe was having difficulties getting pregnant.

Although Kim insists on getting pregnant and carrying her next child herself, without the help of a surrogate, we just need to wait and see whether her medical problems are indeed serious enough for her to drop this option. If surrogacy is the only answer, will she take up her mother's offer and use Kourtney?

Sources: http://www.christiantimes.com/article/keeping.up.with.the.kardashians.news.update.kim.kardashian.could.use.surrogate.for.baby.number.2/52011.htm

Gay dads vs red tape.

The Home Affairs Department is at risk of being hauled into court for ignoring a court order that it register a same-sex couple as the parents of their surrogate-born child.

The battle could set a precedent. Many same-sex couples and single men are desperate to become parents but are unable to do so because of the department's failure to recognise their rights in respect of surrogacy.

Surrogacy is governed by the Children's Act of 2005 as amended. The provisions for surrogacy came into effect in April 2010.

Stuart Logan and his husband, Niclas Wagner, have been stonewalled in their attempts to register themselves as the parents of Neo, a boy born two weeks ago.

"Since our marriage we have wanted a child," said Logan. "But now that our beautiful son has been born the department is slamming doors in our faces, preventing us from being registered as Neo's parents."

Their battle started when they were issued with Neo's birth certificate last week.

Instead of reflecting both men as Neo's parents, in compliance with the Cape Town High Court order, only Logan's name was on the certificate. He was cited as the father.

According to the certificate, the mother is unknown. Wagner is not cited as the other parent.

Department officials allegedly tried to get the couple to break the law by registering the surrogate as Neo's mother.

Logan said: "We told them we wouldn't because it's illegal. All we want is a child, but now, after preparing for our child for three years, locating the egg, finding the right surrogate mother to carry our child, and complying with all the laws, we are being blocked."

Several attempts since Thursday to get comment from Home Affairs have failed.

Logan and Wagner's lawyer, Robynne Friedman, said there were many same-sex couples and heterosexual single men hitting a brick wall with the department.

South Africa, said Friedman - a surrogacy law specialist - has surrogacy laws that are among the world's most progressive.

"The problem is not the law but the Home Affairs Department, which has staff ignorant of the country's surrogacy laws and who operate with computer systems that cannot compute same-sex couples as surrogate parents."

She said her law practice handled about 20 same-sex surrogacy applications a year.

"What's happening is an absolute nightmare, not only for this couple but for others.

"If their child's birth certificate is not amended we are going to court to compel the department to do what it's legally and constitutionally obliged to do."

Friedman said she was concerned that department officials had wanted the couple to name the surrogate mother as the mother.

"It's blatantly illegal, especially in terms of the court order.

"Her name may not appear on any documents in relation to the child."

Sources: http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/04/13/gay-dads-vs-red-tape

‘Elton John surrogate scenario is not wanted’ - Senator on same-sex marriage

“We don’t want an Elton John scenario here,” Independent Ronan Mullen said on The Week in Politics yesterday.

The singer, who married his film producer partner David Furnish last year, has two sons born to a surrogate mother.

Mr Mullen has been campaigning for a No vote in next month’s referendum.

He faced off against Senator Katherine Zappone who asked what good a No vote would achieve during the RTE TV debate.

“The absence of marriage equality tells lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people that their relationships and lives are not worthy of equal protection,” she said.

Meanwhile, Catholic bishops reaffirmed their stance that the church will no longer carry out the civil part of wedding ceremonies if marriage equality is extended to gay couples.

The refusal would affect tens of thousands of heterosexual couples if the referendum passes.

A senior spokesman for the Irish Catholic Bishops said he believed priests are unlikely to have any issue with the hierarchy’s decision to force all couples marrying in the church to carry out the civil aspect of their marriage elsewhere.

For a wedding in Ireland to be legally recognised, it must be solemnised by a person on the register of civil solemnisers.

Some 4,121 of the 5,461 people on the register are Catholic priests.

delay

Only 107 civil registrars are listed, so the move would result in a significant delay for couples seeking to have their marriage legally recognised by the State.

“If the referendum is passed, the church’s view and the State’s view of marriage will be radically different,” the spokesman said.

“It’s reasonable that the bishops would decide to separate the two. A priest’s role is to join  two people in the eyes of God only.”

Sources: http://www.herald.ie/news/elton-john-surrogate-scenario-is-not-wanted-senator-on-samesex-marriage-31138339.html

Surrogacy, women entangled in the ‘strings attached’

‘Baby bump’, considered a metaphor for pregnancy, is so synonymous to these surrogate women that their face is never remembered.

The concept of surrogacy (technically ‘Assisted Reproductive Technologies’) has many facets.

It is taboo to discuss for the conservative circles and a cash cow for the fertility industry comprising agents and the clinics taking up In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), but finally, it is a source of inexplicable pain and harassment for the target women.

‘Medical tourism’

The wish of the privileged to have baby as per their choice often takes a toll on the poorer women in the society’s underbelly.

‘Can we see the baby bump please?’ a 41-minute-film directed by Surabhi Sharma, highlights the concealed side of ‘medical tourism’, a refined term for commercial surrogacy. The film also captures the mood of the women going for ‘reproductive labour’ in tune with the wish of the couples engaging their services.

Palpable frustration

When the film was screened before civil society groups, sex workers, stigmatised women and positive women, besides the Women and Child Welfare officials at Chittoor on Wednesday, their first reaction was palpable frustration on how the lives of women could become so valueless. “Though the concept is new to us, it is hardly different from ours,” said a sex worker, who found striking similarity in the case of the woman, who had been led into commercial surrogacy by her own spouse.

Another wondered if the women’s lives were covered under insurance and what would be their fate in case of a miscarriage.

‘If there is no suitable law, how will her death be compensated?’ asked the worried third.

“Domestic hands are the common target groups, as the ‘carriers’ are required to be from the poorer sections in need of money, but not physically too weak,” explain Anindita and Simran of ‘Sama’, the Delhi-based resource group for women and health that arranged the film screening.

In fact, this is the first screening in Andhra Pradesh, while it has already been shown in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, apart from USA, Germany and Sri Lanka.

Organised system

Admitting that surrogacy cannot be wished away and a ban will make it more surreptitious, Sama demands an organised system in place and effective monitoring mechanism to ensure the health and rights of the women getting into surrogacy.

Sources: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/surrogacy-women-entangled-in-the-strings-attached/article7096618.ece

Australian couple 'misled Indian officials over abandoned surrogacy baby'

An Australian couple has reportedly abandoned a baby boy born via surrogacy in India, potentially leaving him stateless.

The ABC reports the NSW couple returned from India with a baby girl, while leaving her healthy twin brother behind in India.

The Australian government and the Australian High Commission in India were reportedly aware of the arrangement, even though international surrogacy arrangements are illegal in NSW, where the couple lives.

According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by the ABC, the father told officials he would leave the twin boy with family friends in India who were "unable to conceive a child." This turned out to be false, as a cable from Australian High Commission staff to Canberra in early 2013 revealed.

"The proposed adoptive parents are in fact not close family friends of the biological parents, but are known to the biological parents through a mutual friend."

The documents also said the couple travelled to India in late 2012 to gain citizenship for the baby girl, but told consular staff they would leave the boy in India because they could not afford him. It was also revealed the couple already had a son in Australia and wanted a girl to "complete their family".

The couple were "repeatedly told" that abandoning the twin boy would leave him stateless, since India doesn't recognise children born from surrogacy arrangements.

"If the parents do not apply for Australian citizenship for the child, the child will be stateless in India ...our ability to provide assistance to a non Australian citizen is limited," a DFAT email on December 19, 2012 said.

DFAT said the boy was formally adopted in India, although no documentation supporting that has been made public, the ABC reported. Documents also reveal the boy is entitled to Australian citizenship, but that needs to be applied for as it's not automatically granted.

The issue of surrogacy was spotlighted last year after a West Australian couple were accused of leaving a twin boy, known as Baby Gammy, with his surrogate mother after they discovered he had Down Syndrome.

Sources: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/13/australian-couple-misled-indian-officials-over-abandoned-surrogacy-baby

Does crowdfunding for surrogacy or fertility treatment work?

Couple set up crowdfunding page to raise money for surrogate pregnancy

A London couple have created a crowdfunding page on the site gofundme.com in an attempt to raise the £5,000 they need to make their dream of becoming parents together a reality.
Lauren Marchant already has a three-year-old son Logan from a previous relationship but to complete their family she and her husband Ben are desperate to have a child together. When Lauren gave birth to Logan she had a difficult C-section during which she haemorrhaged and was put on life support, which resulted in a hysterectomy.

Lauren's aunt has stepped forward to be a surrogate but, because Lauren already has a child, the NHS will not fund the fertility treatment she needs to complete the process and give Ben a biological child. The total cost is around £20,000 and the couple still need to raise £5,000.

It seems that crowdfunding for fertility treatment and surrogacy costs is something that we're going to see more of but how willing are people to donate money to strangers so they can have a child?

Another U.K. couple, Jo and James Hilton, have also been crowdfunding for a surrogate pregnancy for over 18 months but have only reached just over £2,000 of their £15,000 target. Jo, 34, has had fertility problems for over 15 years, including more than one ectopic pregnancy, half a dozen miscarriages and a radical hysterectomy. She has also been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, obesity, osteoarthritis, Polycystic ovary syndrome and PTSD resulting from the loss of her pregnancies. Jo says that because she is on morphine-based medication she and James have been turned down for adoption, leaving surrogacy their only option. But they are still a long way from paying for their dream.

An increasing number of couples are also choosing to crowdfund for IVF treatment but it seems equally difficult to get the public to donate to the cause. American couple Deirdre and Harold Alby, who have been struggling with infertility for three years, started their crowdfunded fertility mission in May 2014 and 11 months later their total (currently $5,379) falls far short of their $32,000 target.

Sources: http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1080744/does-crowdfunding-for-surrogacy-and-fertility-treatment-work

Meet the woman who gave birth to her BROTHER and SISTER after becoming surrogate for her mum

The family arrangement might seem complicated, but mum Ellen insists they're "happy"

A mum who gave birth to her own brother and sister has opened up on her decision to carry her own mother's children.

Ellen Brown offered to become a surrogate parent for mum Jenny after it emerged she and her partner Tony couldn't have children of their own - and she has no regrets over the decision.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, she said: "I just felt it was better to do it and keep it in the family rather than them have a stranger do it for them."

It means her biological children - twins Ruth and Alex - are now her siblings, although they call their adopted mother Jenny 'mum'.

It may sound confusing, but the family are used to their arrangement and insisted everyone is happy with the way things are.

Ruth explained: "This is reality for us, it's what we've grown up with. I think it's wonderful."

While some children could have been confused by such a situation, Ellen's other daughter Maddie revealed she was delighted to have siblings.

She added: "I always wanted more brothers and sisters, and I got both so it's better. I think what my mum did was a good thing."

When Eamonn Holmes noted that some people may comment on the family arrangement and see it as "weird", Ellen simply said they were all "happy", which is all that matters.

"We're happy," she replied. "Normality comes in many different forms."

Sources: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/meet-woman-who-gave-birth-5491262

China to Crack Down on Surrogacy

China will launch another round of nationwide campaigns to crack down on illegal surrogacy, starting this month till the end of the year. China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, or NHFPC, made the announcement on Thursday.

The cross-department campaign will involve 12 government departments focusing on spotting and punishing medical personnel and intermediary agencies, that help perform surrogate pregnancy services.

Internet website, TV, radio and print media that carry surrogacy ads will also be cleansed. Authorities will also step up supervision over the sale and circulation of assisted reproductive technology, or ART, drugs and medical equipment.

Surrogacy is strictly banned in China, but the surrogacy business is still booming in the country as infertility rates keep rising with the years.

China issued provisions in 2001 to regulate the management of ART and sperm banks, strictly prohibiting any form of trade of sperm, ovum or embryo, or any form of surrogacy.

In 2013, China launched a similar campaign against ART abuse.

Surrogacy in other countries:

Australia: Any surrogacy for commercial purposes is banned, but surrogacy via charity groups or between friends would be allowed.

Europe: European countries like France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Italy have strict legislations to ban surrogacy. UK allows surrogacy as a legitimate way of ART, but also bans surrogacy for commercial purposes. UK law defines the one who gives birth to the child as the mother, and the client couple could only acquire parents' identity via legal adoption procedure.

Japan: There is no explicit regulation to ban surrogacy, but surrogacy is not encouraged. However, many Japanese women go to overseas market to seek surrogacy, which often causes a series of troubles.

Sources: http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/04/10/3381s873661.htm

Steps involved in Shipping Embryos to India

Are you considering shipping your precious embryos from your Country? I am sure that you have lot of queries and apprehensiond about it.

We shall help you at every step with the documentation required for Embryo shipment. Do read our website link for embryo shipment. In the past months we have done a couple of shipments from USA and about 6-8 more shipments are in the pipeline.

As per the ICMR guideline for embryo shipment the formats of different letters required are given be the ICMR.

On our website, we have fine-tuned the format for easy filling in. We have also created a checklist of do’s and don’ts table while filling out the forms. Once the set of documents are ready, we personally courier the set to the ICMR in New Delhi.

We follow up with the ICMR. What we have seen that the ICMR is usually very quick to respond via email with regards to what they have to say about the processing of the NOC or if any changes that they need in the documentation.

The earliest that we have received the NOC is in 3 weeks but depending on the documentation, the corrections and additional documents needed the timeline can change. As we have been doing this regularly, we are aware of the minute details that we need to take care.

Once we have the NOC, you can proceed with contacting the shipment agency. Some more paperwork involving the Import Export license, letters from IVF lab to the shipment company and you shall be able to finally ship your embryos to India.

The process for procuring embryo shipment can be a little time consuming however it has been quite streamlined and easy to follow compared to what it was in the beginning.

Arguably we are the only organization in India, who are regularly shipping embryos. We will help you at every step and ensure the process is as smooth as possible for your precious embryos to be shipped to India for Surrogacy cycle/IVF cycle.

7 Reasons Kim Kardashian Should Not Use A Surrogate

There are better ways to address infertility. Kim Kardashian should not use a surrogate to bear another child, and neither should you.

According to the latest reports from her family’s reality show, Kim Kardashian is having difficulties with conceiving her second child. Kardashian and husband Kanye West vehemently desire a sibling for their daughter, and have demonstrated there is nothing they would not do to have this sibling—which is where their example becomes worrisome. Surrogacy is increasingly promoted as a viable option for having a child.

Here are seven reasons why Kimye should not choose surrogacy, and neither should you.

1. Surrogacy Uses Dangerous Hormones
Gestational surrogacy, when a woman is implanted with an embryo composed of an egg that is not her own, requires copious amounts of hormones to prepare her body for carrying a baby. The surrogate must inject herself daily for weeks with Lupron—a drug known to cause depression and suicide.

There are no long-term studies regarding this drug despite such studies being prevalent in other medical procedures—probably because Lupron is a cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry and they’re afraid of losing their big money-maker for the sake of women’s health. Lupron is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in infertility.

If women had access to the findings of these studies and could know its toxic effects, they wouldn’t use the drug. But tens of thousands of anecdotal stories telling of negative consequences from Lupron are popping up in online communities such as lupronvictimshub.com.

2. Childbirth Still Kills and Maims
Giving birth can be as intense as getting in a serious car crash. A lot of things can go wrong—and any woman giving birth deserves to be surrounded by people who love her, as opposed to strangers on a budget who view her body as a service vessel. Because this is a commercial transaction, commissioning parents can often see medical complications as annoying—even as bad customer service. Childbirth, while not nearly approaching the fatality rate prior to modern medical advancements, can still be fatal.

One woman interviewed for the documentary “Breeders, A Subclass of Women?” was enlisted by her brother and his partner to have their baby as a surrogate. Gail developed eclampsia, a potentially fatal affliction during a woman’s pregnancy that escalates the symptoms of preeclampsia—such as abdominal pain, rapid weight gain, vertigo, and blurry vision—and induces seizures and black outs. The risk of this condition is multiplied when a woman carries more than one child, which is common in surrogacy. When it was clear that Gail was developing complications, her brother’s partner was quoted as saying, “Let’s just abort and get some other stupid woman to have our baby.”

3. May Psychologically Traumatize The Surrogate’s Existing Children
Legally, a surrogate must have at least one child of her own. These children observe their mothers as they keep some babies and give others away. This can be confusing for young children—as there might not appear to be a logical explanation as to why their mother doesn’t give them away, too. Children, as we say, are the future. What will become of their psyche after they have witnessed this sort of transaction? We can only speculate, as research has not yet been done.

4. Weaker Bonds for Adults
Many studies demonstrate that biology is a major contributing factor to a parent’s ability to fully accept and care for a child. The commissioning mother may have serious hindrances in her ability to nurture a child that she did not carry or does not share genes with. She misses out on a cacophony of bonding hormones. Many testimonials exist telling a paradoxical tale: many commissioning parents get cold feet and refuse to take and accept surrogate children, even when they signed contracts and spent tens of thousands of dollars for their conception.

5. Broken Bonds for Children
There is a reason birthing staff immediately place a newborn in its mother’s arms following birth and keep him there, save for necessary tests and hygiene. The Primal Wound is the emotional wound inflicted when mother and child are separated at birth. Nancy Verrier first used this term to describe the void present in the wake of separation by adoption.

When the newborn is quite traumatically removed from its birth mother immediately following birth, it often damages the child’s psyche.
This wound, occurring before the child has begun to separate his own identity from that of the mother, is experienced not only as a loss of the mother, but as a loss of the self, that core being of oneself which is the center of goodness and wholeness. The child may be left with a sense that part of his self has disappeared, a feeling of incompleteness, a lack of wholeness: “Any injury to the basic goodness of Self interferes with healthy, phase-adequate ego development, resulting in premature ego development and a reluctance to trust others to ‘be there.’ Recent studies in brain development tell us that one’s environment and one’s perceptions of the environment influence the way in which the neurons of the brain connect.”

A surrogate child’s sense of security and safety may be jeopardized. When the newborn is quite traumatically removed from its birth mother immediately following birth, it often damages the child’s psyche, causing maladies such as depression, underdevelopment of the child’s sense of self, abandonment issues, and longing for stability. “[The child] is not abnormal, sick, or crazy. His feelings are an appropriate response to the most devastating experience one could ever have: the loss of the mother.”

6. We Shouldn’t Parcel Motherhood
It is dangerous to split motherhood into separate jobs on a production line: egg donor, surrogate, wet-nurse, care-giver (and now mitochondrial donor). Powerful people are working hard to change public opinion about what does or does not constitute a real mother. A woman who wants to carry a child and raise it but decides to use an egg donor proclaims genetics don’t make a mother, it’s who carries, gives birth, nurses, and raises the child who is the real mother. A woman who can not carry a child, but uses her own eggs plus a surrogate, may proclaim pregnancy and giving birth is not what makes a mother, it is the genetic connection that really matters. And a person who uses both an egg donor and surrogate may say neither genes nor pregnancy and labor make for a real parent. This equals mass confusion, and some tricky legal predicaments.

Cindy Close was shocked when, after risking her life in a complicated birth to twins, the hospital staff approached her saying, “I understand we have a surrogacy situation.” Close had used donor eggs paid for by a man she thought would be her co-parent, and was horrified when he attempted to “dupe” her out of motherhood. Some protest that if we just had better contracts and more legal involvement, these kinds of situations would not arise. But should we really let those with the best lawyers decide who is or is not a real mother?

7. Surrogacy Feeds a Social Cancer
Just as it might be in society’s best interest for those with money to invest in green energy versus oil, we suggest avoiding funding what is becoming a corrupt profit-driven industry that industrializes human reproduction at the expense of children’s well-being. Cases like Baby Gammy, Theresa Erickson, Mitsutoki Shigeta, and Newton/Truong demonstrate that serious cases of abuse and neglect do occur.

Theresa Erickson, a convicted felon and former surrogacy attorney, says third-party reproduction and the surrogacy industries in California are “a billion dollar industry” and “corrupt.” “I’m just the tip of the iceberg,” she said, in connection to the dozen babies she commissioned on her own accord, then sold for up to $180,000 each. In cases like Newton’s, where he created pornography and internationally marketed his very young son as a child prostitute—do we really think having a for-profit system brings out the best kind of people in service of children’s well-being?

Are there better players for good people to engage with for the ethical growth of their families?

Here’s Hope and Some Better Solutions
We would like to urge citizens and legislators to find solutions that actually cure infertility, keep motherhood whole, and serve children. Health-conscious entrepreneurs are finding such solutions right now. There is a growing community of “Fertility Awareness Method” users with products and apps like Kindara, TempDrop, and ClearBlue that help women pinpoint ovulation—that 48-hour window of every cycle where her egg drops and conception is possible—to maximize chances of pregnancy. And books like “Fertility, Cyles & Nutrition” can help women edit their diets—a common cause of anovulation. These methods are not being promoted as widely as they should because the profit margins on apps and books are not as lucrative as the $7,000 price tag of one round of invitro fertilization (IVF).

Because the Catholic Church teaches that IVF is a sin (where sin is defined as an act that is harmful to one’s body or harmful to one’s soul), faithful Catholic doctors have had a unique pressure to find cures to infertility while being forbidden to use IVF. They have thus invented something called NaPro Technology, which utilizes the same bio-marker method of Fertility Awareness to ask women to catalogue their daily temperatures and cervical fluid types to identify pathologies, and actually cure the underlying ailment. The results have been better success rates than IVF, and at much lower cost.

It is noble to want to grow one’s family—and a generous intent indeed for Kardashian to want to give North a sibling. Infertility is a terrible struggle, and a curse on communities. In remedying infertility, let’s be mindful of every body, psyche, and wallet that is affected when we say yes to commercializing human reproduction.

Sources: http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/01/7-reasons-kim-kardashian-should-not-use-a-surrogate/

The right of every child

Surrogacy became mainstream when, in the fourth season of the popular sitcom, “Friends,” the ever-spacey Phoebe became the surrogate mother of her brother's children in the episode titled “The one with the embryos.” The episode's writer noted that never before had this been seen on television — the story arc was considered “risky,” and writers were concerned that it was “too crazy ... where's the line with Phoebe?” It was a smash hit.

The narrative continued into the fifth season when, in the hundredth episode of the show, Phoebe gave birth to her own nephew and two nieces. The show depicted her struggling with letting the babies go, but ultimately the choice to gestate and birth her brother's kids was portrayed as a worthy self-sacrifice. Undoubtedly, this storyline helped to dispel much of any remaining natural opposition to the idea of carrying another person's babies.

It should come as no surprise then that some 17 years later, Yahoo is featuring a series celebrating the many ways families are formed today. One article in the series retells the story of Finnean Lee who was born into the world courtesy of the oldest woman in Illinois ever to give birth — his own grandmother.

A 2012 article headline was direct: “Woman Gives Birth to Own Grandson.” The more recent article explains the “painful and traumatic time” when Sara Connell and her husband Bill endured six failed IVF cycles, the stillbirth of twins and a miscarriage. This eventually led them to accept Connell’s mother's “extraordinary offer” to gestate and birth her own grandchild.

Anyone who has faced the cross of infertility, endured a miscarriage or suffered through a stillbirth knows firsthand the kind of suffering endured in these most difficult moments of life. Having recently borne one of these crosses, I know the value of compassion, support and prayers offered by loved ones and strangers alike. But I also know how vital it is to respond to the cross we bear in a way that is in accord with human nature, honors marriage and respects the rights and dignity of children.

The church is clear: Every child conceived is imago dei and is precious in God's sight. At the same time, the church rightly identifies specific methods of achieving pregnancy that are immoral and calls upon couples to reject these methods.

The church articulates doctrine about surrogacy most directly in “Donum Vitae,” a 1987 document that responds to contemporary questions about respecting the origin of human life and the dignity of procreation. Like in vitro fertilization, surrogacy is “contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person.” Surrogacy allows another to enter into the marriage covenant — another woman, by plan, carries a husband's child. Though popular media has dampened it, there is a natural revulsion to such things as renting a womb, a stranger giving birth to a child that is not her own, and a grandmother giving birth to the children of her son-in-law. A child has a natural right to be conceived through an act of love, to be nurtured in the womb by his own mother and to be birthed by his own mother. Surrogacy offends this right.

For this reason, “Donum Vitae” emphasizes, “Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity and of responsible motherhood; it offends the dignity of the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; it sets up to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families.”

While those who choose surrogacy undoubtedly act with the best of intentions, often in the face of great suffering, it does not change the objective truth that such an act is against human nature and divine law and thus cannot be a good act nor lead to the flourishing of those who choose it. In her article, Connell makes a strenuous effort to push away her own natural opposition by covering it with euphemisms and emotional language and does so by adopting phrases such as “act of generosity,” “empowering,” “liberated and empowered,” “normalized” and “something to celebrate.” But redescribing an act in glowing terms does not change its nature; it does not change what it is.

Surrogacy crosses a line that should not be breached because this method of “starting a family” fails to honor the marriage covenant and the right of every child to be brought into the world by his or her own mother through an act of love.

Sources: http://catholicherald.com/stories/Parents-The-right-of-every-child,28690

As Elle Macpherson joins a growing trend among older mothers, Antonia Hoyle meets a couple who achieved success with their very last attempt.

As a successful career woman in her thirties, the last thing on Caroline Griffiths's mind was motherhood. But after falling in love at the age of 42, the desire for a baby became overwhelming. Persuaded by her husband Nigel that she did want a family after all, the couple spent the next decade or so trying, and failing, to become parents, spending in the process some pounds 80,000 on fertility treatments.

Last year, still desperate for a baby, they decided to seek a surrogate: a woman willing to be implanted with a donated egg, fertilised by Nigel's sperm, and carry the pregnancy to term. In June, at the age of 57, Caroline finally got her baby. The longed-for child was delivered by caesarean section to a surrogate mother at a clinic in the Republic of Georgia, as the Griffiths waited anxiously in the ward next door. The little girl was whisked away to her "intended parents" before Ekaterine, the 32-year-old surrogate and herself a mother of two, had a chance to see her.

"I was devastated every time an attempt to have a baby failed, and my age was a shadow that hung over me," says Caroline. "But now we have Grace a horrible weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

Thirty years after Kim Cotton became Britain's first surrogate mother, the subject is rarely out of the news. Supermodel Elle Macpherson, already a mother of two, is reportedly set to have a third child at 51 via a surrogate, using her own previously frozen eggs. Actress Nicole Kidman, 47, had a daughter via a surrogate in 2010, and Sarah Jessica Parker, 50, had twins via a surrogate in 2009, conceived with her frozen eggs and her husband's sperm.

Sir Elton John, 68, and his husband David Furnish, 52, meanwhile, have two sons via a surrogate, whom clothes designers Dolce and Gabbana controversially described as "synthetic" earlier this month.

But it's not just celebrities who are making surrogacy fashionable. Recent figures from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show that record numbers of UK babies are being born to surrogate parents - 167 last year, up from 47 in 2007. Like the Griffiths, many couples go to countries where, unlike in the UK, commercial surrogacy is legal. Data released earlier this month show that in the past three years more than 1,000 hopeful couples have travelled to a total of 57 such countries.

The process is not without controversy. Last month Thailand banned commercial surrogacy for foreign couples following the case of Baby Gammy, the twin boy an Australian couple allegedly left with his Thai surrogate mother following a diagnosis of Down's syndrome. The Foreign Office warns couples about the lack of international regulation and the risk of commercial exploitation of surrogate mothers from poorer countries.

As in Caroline's case, surrogacy also provokes strong views about very late motherhood. "There is a doubt in my mind that Grace may be lacking an able-bodied and able-minded mother when she needs me as a teenager," she admits. "But at the moment I have lots of energy to look after her."

The couple, from London, met in February 2000 when Nigel, a chartered surveyor, was 31 and Caroline 42. "When I was younger it was difficult to have a successful career and children," says Caroline, who owns an HR company. "When I met Nigel I hoped it would happen naturally."

By the time Caroline was 45 and still not pregnant, she and Nigel decided to pursue IVF, although by this time Caroline could not use her own eggs.

"A woman has produced her best eggs by her early thirties and by 43 they are unlikely to work," explains Dr Susan Ingamells, a consultant in reproductive medicine at Wessex Fertility Centre in Southampton.

"It was upsetting," says Caroline. "But the consultant said that if I used a donor egg I could still become a mother."

Over the next decade the couple underwent nine cycles of IVF treatment, using Nigel's sperm and donor eggs, at private clinics in Australia, Spain, London and Turkey. Each attempt failed, leaving Caroline desolate. "After every cycle there was an incredible sense of emptiness," she recalls. At around pounds 5,000 per cycle of IVF, the process also proved costly.

By the time she was 55, Caroline finally accepted that she would need to use a surrogate if she wanted to become a mother. "I reconciled myself to the fact that carrying a child would have been unsafe," she says.

She and Nigel discovered that finding a surrogate in the UK could be difficult and protracted. "Although surrogacy in the UK isn't illegal, there is no contract you can enter into with the surrogate mother and no access to the agency services that are plentiful abroad," says Natalie Gamble, a surrogacy lawyer based in London. Surrogate mothers here can only receive expenses, as opposed to formal payment, for their services, and English law treats the surrogate as the legal mother until a parental order is signed. "If they decide they want to keep the baby there is nothing you can do," says Caroline. "We thought it better to go to a country where surrogacy was properly regulated and we could be surer of an end result."

Research led them to visit the New Life Clinic in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, a popular destination for those seeking surrogates. She and Nigel were shown profiles of potential donors and surrogates to pick from. "Because the woman carrying the baby is not the biological mother there is less of a chance of her becoming emotionally attached," says Caroline. "We tried to choose donors who had fair skin and looked the most like me, although most of them were dark-skinned so in the end we just chose the prettiest."

The couple's pounds 21,000 "package" allowed them three attempts at impregnation with three different surrogates; nearly pounds 8,000 of this would eventually be paid to the successful surrogate mother. Their first attempt was in April 2013. "I didn't need to be there but flew out with Nigel for moral support," says Caroline. Three embryos, created from harvested donor eggs fertilised with Nigel's sperm, were transferred into the surrogate mother they had chosen. But two weeks after the couple had returned to Britain they received an email to tell them the attempt was unsuccessful.

Devastated, they chose a new egg donor and surrogate and flew out that July to repeat the process. Three embryos were transferred to their new surrogate, with three more frozen to be used later. When their second attempt failed, however, Caroline and Nigel nearly gave up hope. "We agreed to give it one final attempt with a different surrogate mother and the remaining embryos but didn't think it was going to happen," says Caroline. Nigel adds: "We accepted our journey had to stop somewhere."

The embryos were transferred to the third surrogate, Ekaterine, in October 2013. Two weeks later Caroline received an email to tell her that Ekaterine was pregnant. "Nigel and I were euphoric," she says. They were sent monthly reports on their baby's development and when Ekaterine was six months pregnant Nigel and Caroline flew out to meet her.

They learnt that her husband had injured himself and was unable to work, and she was unemployed. "This was her way of earning," says Caroline. "She didn't speak English, which made things difficult. But when we flew out again a couple of months later she was more relaxed."

As part of the clinic's policy, a date was fixed for Ekaterine to have an elective caesarean section at around 37 weeks.

"We flew out the day before and as Grace was delivered I lay down in a room next door and took off my top," says Caroline. "The midwife brought her straight in to me and put her on my chest. It was a wonderful feeling." But afterwards she felt bad about the caesarean section. "Ekaterine was in a lot of pain. She talked about how her milk had come in and she'd had to take drugs to stop it."

Ekaterine had no right to see the baby but Caroline felt she should. "It didn't seem right that she'd gone to all this trouble and couldn't see the baby she had carried," she says. "As I watched her hold Grace tenderly I felt like an impostor, as if I were taking her baby. I had to remind myself Grace wasn't hers because a donor egg had been used."

While Nigel had returned to London earlier, mother and baby flew home in early July, after travel documentation had been completed. The parental order from the Family Court in Britain that makes Caroline Grace's legal mother arrived last month. "It's difficult to stay in touch with Ekaterine because she doesn't have the internet, but we try," she says. "I gave her my gold necklace to thank her and she has a picture of Grace we gave her on her mantelpiece."

Caroline and Grace, meanwhile, have formed an unbreakable bond. "My age does worry me, and sometimes I look at Grace and feel sad that I couldn't carry her myself," says Caroline. "But I'm delighted we finally have a perfect healthy baby."

Surrogacy procedures explained
Egg donation

An egg donor is given daily injections of stimulating hormones to encourage the growth of more eggs for 10 days until she ovulates. During egg collection a needle is introduced through the back of her vaginal wall into her ovaries. The eggs are removed with a gentle suction pump and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory dish through in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Egg freezing
A woman can freeze her eggs for later use. Eggs are removed in the same way as they are for egg donation. They are dehydrated before freezing and can be stored for up to 10 years in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees centigrade. When the woman wants to have a baby the egg is thawed slowly before being warmed up again and injected with sperm to fertilise.

Traditional surrogacy

The surrogate mother acts as both the egg donor and the surrogate, so is also the biological mother. The biological father gives a sample of sperm that is transferred into the uterus of the surrogate with a process called intrauterine insemination (IUI) in the hope that fertilisation will take place naturally.

Gestational surrogacy

The embryo is created using the biological father's sperm and an egg donor through IVF, meaning the surrogate is not the biological mother. Resulting embryos are transferred into the surrogate mother's uterus with a plastic catheter using a process called uterine embryo transfer (UET) around three days after fertilisation.

Sources: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11425822

Inside the Dark Realities of the International Surrogacy Industry

In the latest Vice for HBO documentary, Outsourcing Embryos, correspondent Gianna Toboni traveled to India to report on the booming #gestational-#surrogacy industry. Commissioning couples from the U.S. and Europe use Indian surrogacy agencies because they’re as much as six times cheaper than Western alternatives. Surrogacy companies claim to offer opportunities for women to escape poverty, promoting international surrogacy as a win-win for everyone involved.

But, Toboni and her team quickly expose the dark underside of an unregulated and dangerous industry. Women are routinely recruited from slums, made to sign contracts they can’t read, before spending a year living in a facility. Once the baby is born — via cesarean section so that doctors can maximize births per day — the surrogate is sent home, often without the full compensation she was promised. We spoke to Toboni about the lives of surrogate women, how the industry can improve, and the emerging black market for “extra” babies. 

Do you think the American and European commissioning couples that use these Indian surrogacy agencies really don’t know what’s going on?

There are cases where American couples feel a little strange about what is happening, and the ethics of it, but turn a blind eye because they don’t want to pay the higher rates in the States. Many couples don’t want to know what’s behind the scenes, they want their baby fast, and they want it done cheaply. At the same time, there are couples who have an ongoing relationship with the surrogate and are very involved in making sure she’s making a choice and not simply being exploited.

At one point you go undercover to explore the extremely cheap and rather questionable surrogacy organizations. I couldn’t tell if you were able to find these agencies because of your team’s investigative skills or if they’re regularly being used by American couples.

That’s something I was wondering initially myself. So when we got to these seedy agencies with poor practices, I’d say something like, “I’m a little bit nervous, do Americans use your organization?” And they said yes. There was one guy, who ended up in the episode, and not only did he say yes, but he pulled up their profiles on Facebook and showed us the babies that had been gestated by his surrogates. It wasn’t like they were just boasting about their business; they had social-media proof. If you’re an American, you want to pay a cheap price, unfortunately, and you can find these places. We just showed up at the door and knocked.

There’s such dramatic income disparities and power dynamics at play with international surrogacy. To me, it seems inherently problematic, but do you think there’s a way it could be done right?
I do think there’s a way to do it right. The Indian government just hasn’t passed regulations that would allow this to be a safe industry. More regulations and increased effort by couples would help. It’s the responsibility of the couple to really research and see what kind of pressure their surrogate is under. I asked one woman when she was on the delivery table about to give birth if she was ever afraid she could die during childbirth. She said, “Yeah, I know that’s a real possibility.” The surrogates understand what the situation is medically for them, but it doesn’t seem like the commissioning couples do. The medical facility is good and clean, but at the same time, these women are risking their lives.

Right now, the surrogacy industry is anything goes, which is really scary. There was legislation proposed in India in 2010, it just hasn’t been passed. We didn’t see anyone receive poor medical service at the clinics we were able to visit. At the same time, there’s no limit to how many embryos can be implanted. Doctors have been known to insert more than one or two embryos to increase the chances that the woman will get pregnant without losing time or money. The commissioning couple may only want one baby, so sometimes, when more than one baby is born, the couple isn’t told, even though it’s their genetic offspring. As you can see in the documentary, I was offered one of these babies from the black market.

Were you surprised by the black-market industry surrounding these “extra” babies?

I wasn’t surprised that it existed, but I was surprised by how easily we were able to find it. We did a lot of research and spoke to a number of experts before we went, and we’d heard rumors that there are extra babies and orphanages of white babies in India. We didn’t find any orphanages, but then, when a couple offered me a baby for sale over dinner, it was shocking.

Do you find it difficult to maintain the journalistic remove required to do a job like this?

That situation in particular, when I was undercover and offered that baby, was the most heartbreaking experience I’ve ever been a part of. It was terrifying how aggressively they were pushing this baby on us. They even offered to let us make a down payment so we could take it home in a few days. I’m sitting there thinking, I’m sure I could find someone to raise this baby. But it’s also highly illegal and you just can’t. Vice doesn’t require the colder, more removed affect we’ve come to expect from investigative work. You can sit there and say, “This is really fucked-up and I want to take this baby so it’s safe.” To not be able to authentically react to what I’m seeing would do a disservice to the content. I’m a journalist, but I’m a human being first.

One thing that often happens with these internationally reported stories is that journalists go in, do the investigative work, interview people on the ground, and then produce something that those people never see. Do you make an effort to show participants, like the surrogate women, the role they have in exposing this story?
For sure, when people give us their time and tell their story, which is often taking them away from their family or their work, it's important we show them the final product.

We definitely create links and in some cases export DVDs to people overseas. Not everyone has access to HBO.

Sources: http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/03/dark-side-of-international-surrogacy.html

Op-Ed: At Passover time, remember those struggling with infertility

I recently attended the bris of my friend’s son and it was the first such occasion at which I was not crying tears of sadness for myself. Two years ago I was at her older son’s bris, and I remember pretending my copious tears were of joy. In reality, all I could think was: How come everyone else gets to have the very thing that I want most?

It would take me three years, 10 doctors, nine rounds of in-vitro fertilization and four miscarriages to finally get and stay pregnant.

And there I was, in my second trimester of pregnancy, listening to my friend deliver a speech at her son’s bris, and all I can think was: What about everyone else who can’t have children? Even though I’m out of the precarious first trimester, when risk of a pregnancy loss is greatest, the pain of my long, winding fertility journey is still too raw for me to forget everyone I’ve left behind.

Every Passover we read the section of Exodus where the Torah reminds us to remember the convert, the orphan and the widow: “For you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20), it says, adding, “If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry.”

To the convert, orphan and widow, I’d add the fertility challenged.

There are 6.7 million of us in America, women with an impaired ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it’s high time the Jewish community pays more attention to those longing for a child. That is, women having trouble conceiving, women who have miscarriages or stillbirths, couples who have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for fertility treatments, single people seeking to become parents, people going down the long and expensive road of adoption.

These people — we, for I include my husband and myself in this — need the community’s help. Yes, there are a number of local organizations such as the Jewish Free Loan Association, Making Miracle Babies Fund and Hasidah that have sprung up in recent years looking to provide financial aid or resources for infertile couples, but we need more. More money, yes, but also more emotional support. And awareness.

A woman wrote to me recently that she was diagnosed with cancer at age 35, so she had her eggs frozen before she underwent chemotherapy. Now, at 42, she is cancer-free but cannot carry a child, and cannot afford the $100,000 to hire a surrogate to carry it for her.

Surely there should be some central place where families in need of a surrogate could be connected with generous souls willing to do such a mitzvah, where Jewish couples who have gone through IVF can donate their leftover embryos to others trying to have a baby (a Jewish equivalent to the Christian organization Nightlight) or even donate eggs when they freeze their own. (Even though Jewish law is divided on whether a Jewish egg donor is preferable to a non-Jewish one, for those who want Jewish egg donors it can cost an extra $8,000.)

National Infertility Awareness Week begins April 19, and this year’s theme, fittingly, is “You Are Not Alone.”

When you go through infertility, IVF, miscarriage, egg freezing, surrogacy and adoption, you shouldn’t have to keep it a secret. This is the time when people need the most support, especially from their communities. As anyone for whom having a baby hasn’t come easy knows, a strong support system is key.

The Jewish community has taken on many crises: intermarriage, assimilation, young leadership engagement, etc. There are so many programs (and much funding) out there intending to retain people, keep them Jewishly engaged. In other words, Jewish continuity. But how can we have Jewish continuity if so many of us are having trouble having children?

One doesn’t have to donate a womb, an embryo or an egg to help out. The community can develop more programming for the fertility challenged, their friends and family, helping them share their stories, directing them to other resources, and in general helping them feel less alone.

Recently I received a letter from a pregnant woman telling me how she’d been so upset at her friends struggling with infertility because they’d distanced themselves from her, but after reading about my struggles, she better understood their pain. (Now they’re all mothers!)

Sometimes at joyous life-cycle celebrations — a bar mitzvah, a wedding, a bris — it can seem like everyone else’s life is proceeding according to plan: love, marriage, children, rinse and repeat.

A closer look may show a different picture. So let’s remember this Passover, as we recall the suffering of the past and the suffering of the present, the power of community to lessen the pain.

Sources: http://www.jta.org/2015/03/29/news-opinion/opinion/op-ed-at-passover-time-remember-those-struggling-with-infertility