stephaniec's blog

I thought since this issue was all over the web in the last couple of weeks that most people understood the issues involved, but just last week a neighbor came up to me and asked me that very question: So, what about Michael Jackson's kids?. I knew where he was going so I replied, just as I did for Tamera H. Bennett at her blog, Bennett Law Office (http://tinyurl.com/mq33ny), that in California, it doesn't matter if Michael used a sperm donor an egg donor and a surrogate for all of his children.

This past week I received a telephone call from a surrogate who wanted to know if it was legal for her to use her insurance for her surrogacy. She and the Intended Parent were using a contract that he found on the Internet. The surrogate seemed to think this was okay because he is attending law school so he is an attorney. I explained to her that until he passed the Bar and obtains his license, he is not an attorney. "Oh" and then "well" was her response.

What do you do with your embryos? It's a dilemma that many couples and individuals who have gone through IVF treatment face, as there is an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 cryopreserved embryos in the United States alone. You are done having your own children and you are not sure what to do with the embryos you have cryopreserved at your IVF center. As the years go on, you are charged more each year to maintain them. It is a very real dilemma for a lot of people.

If you are an Intended Parent and you have lost money with the disappearance of the Michael Charles Holding Company and Surrogenesis, Extraordinary Conceptions, LLC would like to offer a helping hand by discounting your Egg Donation and Surrogacy Cycle. We know how hard you have worked and how many years you have suffered and to have a company like Surrogenesis give you false hope that your dreams of having a child will come true, only to steal your life savings blind is appalling.

A must-read blog post from Samuel Wood, MD, who is a board certified reproductive endocrinologist and has been practicing in this field for 15 years, on the octuplets. He puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the physician and has contacted the medical board to investigate the situation.

He not only shows leadership in contacting the medical board, but also compassion as he urges all of us to give the children our support, as they are innocent.

I highly encourage you to read his full post http://www.fertile.com/blog/2009/02/the_octuplet_mess.htm.

An article by Cheryl Miller posted today at www.reason.com raised questions on how the information should be handled, by whom and how much. In "Who's Your Daddy?" Cheryl discusses the plight of one young woman who has a rare stomach disorder. She is in her 20s when records were either destroyed or not kept at all. All she knows is that the sperm donor is of Scandinavian descent. She doesn't want to meet him, but she would desperately like medical information.

Marna Gatlin is without doubt a wonderful woman who generously gives her time for something she feels passionately about: egg donation. Because of her passion and devotion to the group she now runs, Parents Via Egg Donation, she was featured in today’s The Oregonian http://tinyurl.com/92ycxg.