Proud Parenting

LGBT Parents - Lesbian Moms, Gay Dads

Colorado and Mississippi – “Personhood” amendments on November ballots

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Colorado and Mississippi will both have “personhood” amendments on their ballots in November.

Colorado’s personhood amendment states: “Section 32. Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term “person” shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.”
Mississippi’s amendment is similar and “would amend the Mississippi Constitution to define the word ‘person’ or ‘persons’, as those terms are used in Article III of the state constitution, to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”

In addition to the states above, petition drives and legal cases for so-called “personhood initiatives” are underway in Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, and Nevada.

These amendments, while threatening a woman’s right to an abortion, oral and emergency contraception, IUDs, and stem cell research, could also greatly affect in vitro fertilization clinics.

Generally, during IVF procedures eggs are removed from the woman and fertilized and then placed back into the woman to hopefully create a successful pregnancy. Under these new personhood amendments fertilized eggs would be considered persons and they would have rights as such.

Therefore, it would be much more difficult for IVF clinics to operate because they would be dealing with “persons” and not property as embryos are characterized under the current laws. These amendments would affect, among other things, the freezing of embryos for future use, reducing multiple pregnancies, and testing embryos for genetic disorders. IVF clinics would have to find a totally new way to do business since they would have to consider the rights of these new persons from fertilization.

The IMPORTANCE of Reading your Consent Forms – OUCH!!!

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When we venture into the world of IVF and assisted reproduction, many of us are overwhelmed by the sheer number of consent forms that we have to sign – and that does not include all of the other legal contracts. Yet, I often see patients not even reading what they are signing – or they sign just as the procedure is about to happen. With this story below, I cannot impress upon each one of you enough how IMPORTANT it is to read the informed consents ahead of time. Just ask for copies before any procedure is scheduled so that you have time to look them over yourself – or better yet, have an attorney read them!

All I can say her is OUCH –

“A jury cleared a Tucson doctor in a malpractice suit filed by a man who claimed one of his testicles was mistakenly removed.

It took Pima County Superior Court jurors less than 45 minutes to decide Tuesday that Dr. Jonathan Walker was not negligent in the surgery on 23-year-old Kenneth “Ryan” Irby on May 4, 2007.

Irby says he underwent a biopsy on his right testicle at University Medical Center and believed it would be surgically removed only if it was cancerous.

When he woke up, Irby says his testicle was gone and he assumed it must have been cancerous. But during a follow-up appointment a week later, Irby learned the biopsy was negative and his testicle had only been bruised in an earlier car crash.

Walker’s attorneys say Irby signed a surgery consent form and knew a biopsy couldn’t be done without removing the testicle for fear of spreading any cancer.”

http://health.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=23956&external=269329.proteus.fma

India Considering Law Outlawing Same Sex Surrogacy

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Surrogacy – A committee in India is writing a bill to govern assisted reproductive technology. This bill would exclude same sex couples from hiring surrogates in India, unless India legalizes same sex relationships.

As it is now, a growing number of gay couples from other countries, especially Australia, come to India to hire surrogates to bear their children and if this bill becomes law this will no longer be possible. Dr. Sharma, who is the deputy director-general of the reproductive health and nutrition division at the India Council of Medical Research states, “If our government does not permit gay relationships, then it certainly will not be permitted for foreign gay couples to come to this country and have a [surrogacy] agreement.”

Recently, Delhi’s High Court overturned a 150 year old law that banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” While this is seen by many as a step in the right direction, many gay activists warned that this ruling only decriminalizes sodomy and does not legalize same sex relationships.

Another problem with this new bill for Australian couples is the potential requirement that couples would need to have a document from their embassy or foreign ministry pledging to accept the surrogate child as a citizen of their country. A spokesman for the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship said there were “no guarantees” that the child would be accepted as a citizen.

http://www.dailytimesindia.com/2010/04/117796.htm

Canadian gays and lesbians must go outside their country to become biological parents

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Fallout continues in response to Canada’s detrimental legislation known as the Assisted Human Reproduction Act – enacted in 2004. The prohibition has forced prospective gay and lesbian parents to ship sperm and fly egg donors from the U.S., and pay egg donors through U.S. agencies.

From The Lawyers Weekly:

The federal government enacted the Assisted Human Reproduction Act in 2004 in an attempt to regulate reproductive technologies. The Act prohibits paying donors for their eggs and sperm. This has led to an acute shortage of reproductive material in Canada.

The government implemented the prohibition on payment for eggs and sperm in an attempt to prevent commercialization of the fertility industry, says Dr. Marjorie Dixon, a fertility specialist at First Steps Fertility Centre in Toronto. While she believes the government had good intentions in enacting the legislation, and wasn’t trying to prevent the LGBTQ community from having families, the good intentions backfired. Read more…

Judge overturns Arkansas’ adoption law

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A Pulaski County circuit judge has overturned Arkansas’ law banning unmarried couples living together from adopting or fostering children.

Circuit Judge Chris Piazza said Initiated Act One, passed by voters in 2008, constituted an unwarranted invasion of privacy. The law effectively banned gays from adopting or fostering children because they are unable to legally marry in Arkansas.

From Arkansas Online:

Judge Piazza said in his two-page ruling that people in “non-marital relationships” are forced to choose between becoming a parent and sustaining that relationship. Piazza wrote that the act was “especially troubling” in how it singled out the “politically unpopular group.”

Friday Legal Updates – US Health Care Bill, War Over Eggs & Canada Backlash

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Happy Friday! Some interesting news over the last week for discussion, including a war over eggs and resignations in Canada.

Oregon – Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, are in constant competition with one another for state domination and bragging rights. If it’s not football then it’s basketball, baseball, choice of majors and so on. The list is endless, with new categories being added all the time. The latest and probably most controversial topic is the notion that OSU students are compensated more for egg donation at fertility clinics than U of O students.

An article published on April 1 in the Portland Tribune reported on advertisements in both schools’ student-run newspapers—OSU’s Daily Barometer’s ad offered $5,000, while the ad in U of O’s Daily Emerald offered $4,000.

Gary Dulude, a marketing employee for OSU, was quoted in the article saying, “There must be a perception that there are smarter students here.” Perceive it however you want, but admission requirements to attend either school are exactly the same.

However, some claim that egg compensation advertisements statewide show an even flat rate.

“This reporter knows full well that compensation for egg donors at Oregon State University and University of Oregon is exactly the same and always has been the same,” said Jonathan Kipp, marketing director for Oregon Reproductive Medicine/Exceptional Donors. “The reporter and I talked at length about why the study had it wrong, in Oregon at least “The compensation for egg donors, recruited and approved by Oregon Reproductive Medicine’s Exceptional Donors Program…has always, and is always, exactly the same. That rate is currently $6,000.”

http://www.dailyvanguard.com/civil-war-over-eggs-1.2237920

US – How the Health Care Bill Offers Little Comfort to Infertile Couples

“Jody and Greg Miller of Potomac, Md., say they were fortunate to give birth to triplets in 2000, after spending $22,000 on in vitro fertilization because their insurance company didn’t cover fertility treatments.

But when their insurance premiums were costing them one-third of their net income as self-employed workers, they applied to Care First — Blue Cross/Blue Shield hoping to get a more reasonable policy for the family.

Instead they received a letter accepting their three children, but the Millers were rejected for having two pre-existing conditions: “infertility” and “spousal infertility.”

“This was very alarming and extremely concerning,” said Jody Miller, 42, who testified before Congress last year during the health care debate. “I have also never heard of spousal infertility. Is ‘spousal cancer’ or ‘spousal HIV’ terms that are used?”

Insurance companies will no longer be able to turn away couples for any kind of pre-existing condition, including infertility, because of sweeping health care reform that will go into effect in 2014.

Couples like the Millers — she is an exercise physiologist and he owns a carpentry business — who are relegated to high-risk pools, are excited that they might soon be able to buy individual insurance policies at reasonable rates.

Though couples can’t be turned down for health insurance because of infertility, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get coverage for fertility treatments.

For the 7.3 million couples in the U.S. who struggle with infertility, the new health care bill carries no mandates to cover the soaring cost of assisted reproduction procedures like IVF and egg donation.

“The law itself is fairly silent on what exact benefits have to be offered — that’s yet to be determined,” said Sean Tipton, spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

“I am not terribly optimistic that this country is suddenly going to treat infertility appropriately,” he said. “We have a crumby history.”

The average cost, according to ASRM, is about $12,400 a cycle, but “accessory procedures” — such as sperm injection and hatching the egg — can up the price tag. The cost of a donor egg can exceed $5,000.

Infertility — defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse (six months if the woman is over age 35) or the inability to carry a pregnancy to live birth — affects an estimated 1 in 8 couples in the United States, according to RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association.

Of the 62 million women of reproductive age in 2002, about 1.2 million, or 2 percent, had an infertility-related medical appointment within the previous year, and 10 percent had an infertility-related medical visit at some point in the past, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In vitro fertilization — the most common type of assisted reproductive technology — was pioneered in 1978 by doctors in the United Kingdom, and has been used in the United States since 1981.”

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=10451369

Canada – Two board members have unexpectedly resigned from Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, the federal agency created three years ago to police Canada’s growing fertility industry. These two resignations come a year after four senior staff members resigned from the fledgling organization.

Adding to the mystery surrounding these resignations, the two former board members have refused to comment on the situation with one citing the sweeping gag order they were required to sign when they joined Assisted Human Reproduction Canada in 2007.

In an email exchange, former board member Francois Baylis confirmed that she had resigned stating that she “was unable to meet what [she believed] to be the responsibilities of a board member.” She also went as far as to say that “the only way she could openly discuss the agency would be as a witness before a parliamentary committee.”

These resignations and comments have raised a red flag for many observers who criticize the organization for its lack of regulation of the Canadian fertility business. Experts state that Canadians are routinely engaging in surrogacy and the sale of human gametes despite the fact that these activities are outlawed under the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act. Other issues the agency should be dealing with include the growing number of multiple births due to IVF treatment, the anonymity of donors which can prevent children from learning their biological parent’s identities and the long-term health of women who undergo fertility treatment.

In its three years of existence, the agency has done almost no licensing or enforcement work in the fertility business. The agency claims this is due to the fact that there are no specific provisions from Health Canada that deal with this field.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2931157

Do you think creating three-parent children is a good idea?

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A team of researchers at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom have been successful in their attempts to create embryos that have three parents, two women and one man.
The scientists hope that this procedure will be able to prevent the transmission of serious disorders by removing the damaged mitochondrial DNA from the embryo and replacing it with undamaged mitochondrial DNA from a donor.

“In the high-tech procedure, the nuclei from the dad’s sperm and the mom’s egg, which hold the parents’ DNA, are removed, and the defective mitochondria are left behind. The nuclei are then placed into another egg that has had its nucleus removed but that still has its mitochondria. The brand new embryo has the genes from its parents along with a teensy amount of mitochondrial DNA from the donor egg.”

Generally, damaged mitochondrial DNA is not responsible for serious disorders. However, about one in 6,500 babies born with damaged mitochondrial DNA have serious health problems that can often be fatal, such as heart failure.

Do you think creating three-parent children is a good idea?

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2010/04/15/2010-04-15_threeway_ivf_could_one_day_help_prevent_serious_disorders_like_heart_disease_in_.html

How can I find the perfect surrogate for me? Ask Dr. Doyle

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QUESTION: “I’m a single gay man who wants to work with a gestational surrogate. Since I don’t have a partner to ask, I’m hoping you can help me explore the issue. How can I be sure to make a perfect match for me? What characteristics should I look for when getting to know prospective surrogates? What questions should I ask myself – and her – (and possibly her husband)?”

Dr. Doyle: One of the most important characteristics for you to find in your carrier is a sincere desire to partner with you to build your family, and a shared commitment to taking this journey with you as you see fit.

First, you need to be compatible on the major medical issues regarding the number of embryos you want to transfer, multiple pregnancy, selective reduction and C-Section. If you want twins, you should only consider a carrier who is very open to that. If you have an opinion about whether you would selectively reduce a multiple pregnancy, it is equally that you and she are on the same page with that.

You should look to partner with someone with whom you are compatible on a week-to-week basis. For example, are you looking for someone who will share info with you regularly, like how she is feeling, what she is eating, whether she is taking her vitamins, or how each prenatal visit with her doctor went? Or are you more a “big picture” guy who doesn’t need all the details? Some carriers are better matched to someone who enjoys and appreciates more frequent communication while others just are better suited to e-mails or phone calls in which “everything is fine.”

Either way, you should aim to trust your potential carrier as much as you possibly can, and be able to feel comfortable with her immediate family and support systems. For many people, that means visiting her in her home before making any commitments or signing any contracts. You should be able to openly communicate with her, and she with you. This is a partnership that will live on well after the birth that she provides, and like any meaningful relationship, it makes sense to take all the time you need to cultivate that bond.


Ask Dr. Doyle



Lesbian Couple in UK “Make History”

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It is the first birth certificate that leaves the father off the official record for the first time in nearly 200 years, and it happened in the UK.

“It shows only a mother and a ‘parent’ – also a woman – for newly-born Lily-May Betty Woods.

The baby was born to 38-yearold Natalie Woods. The parent named on the form is Miss Woods’s partner, 47-year-old Betty Knowles.

There is no mention of the father, or donor, as the couple prefer to call the anonymous man whose sperm provided half of Lily-May’s genes through IVF treatment.

It is thought to be the first recorded birth to two lesbians since a recent change in the law.

Birth certificates were introduced 170 years ago and have always recorded the mother and father, if known.

The 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act paved the way for them for the first time to record two mothers – to the dismay of many Christian groups and campaigners for traditional family values.

Until the law changed same sex couples could not put both of their names down for a child conceived by a donor.

But the Act meant that children conceived after April 1 last year to same sex couples are entitled to have a birth certificate listing ‘mother and parent’.”

With that, the following qoute is very poignant:

“Miss Woods added: ‘A child needs unconditional love and that is what Betty and I offer Lily-May in spades.’”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267155/Lesbian-mothers-sex-parents-jointly-sign-birth-certificate.html?ITO=1490

Two moms married in Massachusetts cannot get a divorce in Texas

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Two Texas moms got married in Massachusetts but separated in 2007. They worked out a custody arrangement for their 4 1/2-year old adopted son – but the state of Texas says a same-sex marriage can’t be dissolved with a divorce there because Texas doesn’t offer marriage equality.

The Associated Press reports:

A judge in Austin granted the divorce, but Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is appealing the decision. He also is appealing a divorce granted to a gay couple in Dallas, saying protecting the “traditional definition of marriage” means doing the same for divorce.