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• A Surrogate Birth Every 48 Hours

  In the U.S., the reported amount of money gestational carriers (aka: surrogate mothers) receive for nine months of developing some other couple's genetic material into a full-blown baby isn't exactly life-changing. It's never enough to buy a house, pay for a college degree, or even elevate one's standard of living.  But in India, surrogate mothers make enough to actually change their lives, according to one doctor who attends many, many surrogate births. A payment of $13,000 and often more is an incredible amount. So while we considered what affect Sarah Jessica Parker would have on the rate and popularity of surrogate pregnancies in the U.S., Dr. Anita Soni, obstetrician in India at one of Mumbai's top hospitals, was attending a gestational carrier's birth every 48 hours.   Read More... Posted May 22 2009, 04:10 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: india, surrogacy, sarah jessica parker, surrogate pregnancy, matthew broderick, surrogacy and the law, alex kuczynski, jennifer block, baby boom in india

• Book for Gay Parents' Kids Creates an Uproar

  I love how Fox News fairly and I dare say balancedly (is that even a word?) laid out the news that there's a new book out there for kids of lesbian moms who used a sperm donor to conceive: "Gay Sex Education Book Targets Children as Young as 2" Gets your dander up, doesn't it? Oh my sweet henry, they're trying to teach our two-year-olds to have sex! And not just the missionary position but you know, the naughty, we don't that in the heartland kind of s-e-x.  Except they're not. Read More... Posted May 05 2009, 12:26 PM by JeanneSager with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: children's books, books, homophobia, gay, gay parenting, Lesbian Moms, gay parents, surrogacy, sperm donor, Jeanne Sager

• Surrogate Pregnancy: Who's Next?

  Surrogate pregnancies, you have arrived.  This week, the world learned that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are awaiting the birth of twin girls via a surrogate sometime this summer. And while there's got to be criticism brewing out there somewhere, so far the mood has been celebratory. There's much congratulations to the couple, who had apparently struggled to conceive after the birth of their son James six years ago. And also reassurance that they have paid an Ohio divorcee "tens of thousands of dollars" to go through the none-too-easy process of getting pregnant and carrying twin pregnancies using someone else's fertilzed eggs (as we're all assuming is the case). Does anybody else get the feeling that SJP will do for surrogate pregnancies what she did for HBO, expensive strappy shoes and vodka-based girly drinks  -- which is to say, make it popular? Will the Sex and the City star be surrogacy's Angelina Jolie, a celebrity endorsement?   Read More... Posted May 01 2009, 10:34 AM by Madeline Holler with | with 20 comment(s) Filed under: surrogacy, sarah jessica parker, surrogate pregnancy, matthew broderick, surrogacy and the law, alex kuczynski, jennifer block

• Egg Donation: Which Comes First?

  I was surprised at the very clinical approach to the egg donation issue over at The Frisky last week.  Breaking down the medical steps a woman has to go through if she opts to donate her eggs to another family for procreation, it was a well-informed article. It just seemed to skip right over stage one. Read More... Posted Apr 30 2009, 03:29 PM by JeanneSager with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, infertility, Conception, artificial insemination, eggs, Egg donation, surrogacy, sperm donor, Jeanne Sager

• NYT Asks: Are There Too Many Ways to Conceive?

  Lisa Belkin over at the NYT's Motherlode blog wonders if the pursuit-of-parenthood market may be oversaturated.  Citing the recent examples of the Sarah Jessica Parker/Matthew Broderick surrogate twins and the woman attempting to become a surrogate grandmother by using her dead son's sperm, Belkin asks if science -- with its IVF, egg donations, fertility drugs and other advances -- has perhaps given us too many options. She quotes The Washington Post's Liza Mundy, who recently wrote a book about assisted reproduction: "When there is always something else to try ... there is no permission to stop. That’s the hardest part of the process for couples. For most of them, the ‘permission’ to stop comes when they run out of money." Mundy mentions a key word there: money. Read More... Posted Apr 29 2009, 07:29 PM by Jen Chaney with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: IVF, infertility, Conception, Egg donation, surrogacy, economy, getting pregnant over 40, conceive, Lisa Belkin, Jen Chaney, sperm donation, new york times, motherlode, science and pregnancy

• Babble Talk: Can You Detach the Womb from the Woman?

  This week a Babble Poll asks if you think gestational surrogacy is wonderful, terrible or if you aren't sure.  I'm sure.  I'm sure it's very, very complicated.  Jennifer Block's feature article about surrogacy raises that complexity thoughtfully.  The particular, physical and emotional challenges faced by "Laurel" in the article are just the tip of a complicated iceberg.  I have long felt that surrogacy--as well as gamete "donation"--should be uncompensated, true donation.  But so-and-so's experience puts even that simple idea into question.  Putting her body through such difficulty and shortchanging her own children throughout her pregnancy on behalf of her friends is hard work and surely deserves some kind of compensation.  But what kind?  Her friends' gratitude?  A trip to an exotic island resort?I am more inclined to Read More... Posted Apr 17 2009, 01:30 PM by Shannon LC Cate with | with 30 comment(s) Filed under: surrogacy, Shannon LC Cate, indian surrogacy, fertility tourism, gestationnal surrogacy, womb for rent, barbara katz rothman

• Genetic Mom Gets OK to Adopt Baby Carried by Partner

  It happens every day - kids get adopted. In forward thinking parts of the country, they even get adopted by members of same sex couples.  But this was a first. A woman who supplied an egg so her female partner could carry their baby has secured the right to adopt her own genetic child - and there was no dispute between the two parties. No divorce, no acrimoney. This was all about protecting the child.  Surprised this hasn't happened before? Read More... Posted Apr 15 2009, 09:31 AM by JeanneSager with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, Lesbians, Egg donation, surrogacy, Jeanne Sager, same sex marriage, surrogate, defense of marriage act, egg donor, same sex parents

• Mom Gets OK to Collect Dead Son's Sperm

  Somewhere in Texas a grandmother-to-be needs to get a grip.  Marissa Evans told a judge she wanted the rights to collect her dead twenty-one-year-old's sperm to make a grandchild because "I want him to live on. I want to keep a piece of him." The worst part? The judge said, yeah, OK, sounds good to me. Read More... Posted Apr 09 2009, 11:28 AM by JeanneSager with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: grandparents, sperm, grandchildren, surrogacy, grandmother, sperm donor, Jeanne Sager, surrogate, sperm collection

• Should Mixed Up Embryo's Mom Get to Weigh In on Abortion?

  Remember the outrage over the Japanese doctors who oh-so-accidentally transferred one couple's embryo into the wrong mom-to-be?  The story's back in the news - with a twist. It turns out the woman whose embryo was accidentally transferred into the womb of an ususpecting IVF patient (who later aborted) did not find out about the incident for a full two and a half months. Doctors said the woman, who was in her forties, was not overly concerned. Her exact words (according to the health officials) were "I'm sorry to hear that." Read More... Posted Mar 20 2009, 10:25 AM by JeanneSager with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, IVF, embryo, abortion, Pro-choice, surrogacy, right to choose, Jeanne Sager, biological clock, pro-life, surrogate, biological parents

• Court Nixes Couple's Request for Dead Son's Sperm

  The parents of a man dead since 1998 won't be fulfilling their last minute dreams to have a grandchild - a New York court just nixed their request to use the dead man's sperm to make a baby. Ah, common sense prevails somewhere in New York. Read More... Posted Mar 04 2009, 12:01 PM by JeanneSager with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Cancer, grandparents, sperm bank, surrogacy, sperm donor, surrogate mother, Jeanne Sager, grandparents as caregivers, custodial parents, dead father

• Going the Extra Mile for Breastmilk, Part 2: Induced Lactation

  I know an adoptive couple who, together, exclusively breastfed their adopted son from time of his placement until he was old enough for solids (and beyond). I have to admit that I find this super cool, and not just because they ended up with a son who's allergic to cow's milk and soy. It's because it makes them so happy. And because I'm a science geek and think the human body is awesome. The weirdest part about it for me is that it has put me in the amusing position of having to explain to my daughter why she gets milk from only one of her moms instead of both... Perhaps seeing it happen all the time is why the assumption that breastfeeding is out of the question for adoptive parents takes me by surprise even though I know it is (1) very rare and (2) not particularly simple to get going.   Read More... Posted Feb 11 2009, 03:00 PM by Miriam Axel-Lute with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, breastfeeding, pumping, surrogacy, breastmilk, milk banks, mastectomy, milk donation, Axel-Lute, adoptive breastfeeding, milk supply, MilkShare, induction protocols, induced lactation

• Going the Extra Mile for Breastmilk, Part 1: MilkShare

  There are numerous situations in which it is hard or impossible for parents to give their babies breastmilk—medical or supply problems, high-order multiples, adoption. But with the increasing amount of research about the benefits of breastmilk, a small but growing number of these parents have decided to seek out ways to do it anyway. Since formal milk banks are very expensive, they don't tend to be long-term solutions. But depending on the situation, there are other ways. Read More... Posted Feb 11 2009, 02:30 PM by Miriam Axel-Lute with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, breastfeeding, pumping, surrogacy, breastmilk, milk banks, mastectomy, milk donation, Axel-Lute, adoptive breastfeeding, milk supply, MilkShare

• Siblings Born Two Months Apart Aren't Twins

  Jeffrey and Delaney Ellis have the same mom and the same dad, but birthdays just two months apart. No years separate them - just two months.  The kicker? This isn't a case of one twin delivered early. Read More... Posted Feb 09 2009, 08:31 AM by JeanneSager with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, twins, babies, infertility, multiples, surrogacy, siblings, surprise pregnancy, Jeanne Sager, surrogate, in vitro

• Desperately Seeking . . . Grandparents

  There's no question kids who have them love their grandparents - they spoil them rotten. But if your parents are gone, or might as well be, would you be willing to use the term "grandparent" loosely? What about letting a perfect stranger stand in, just so your kids can have a grandparent?  A growing number of parents are doing just that. They're setting up personal ads; only instead of "SBF seeks SM for long walks on the beach, non-smoking, non-freaks" they're advertising for older folks who have been aching for a youngster to play with. Read More... Posted Jan 17 2009, 11:39 AM by JeanneSager with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: grandparents, advertising, generations, surrogacy, grandmother, Jeanne Sager, grandfather, adopt-a-grandparent, personal ads, older generations, surrogate grandparents

• Fake Surrogate Mother Arrested

  Soon after a New York Times writer unwittingly sparked a debate on classism over her article on gestational surrogacy, the news presents us with another potential pitfall of putting a price on fertility: con artists. A Belgian woman was arrested yesterday for allegedly swindling infertile couples over the Internet by posing as a potential surrogate mother. Read More... Posted Dec 05 2008, 09:40 AM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with no comments Filed under: arrested, internet, netherlands, surrogacy, Belgium, surrogate mothers, surrogate moms, surrogacy and the law, surrogate babies, fake surrogate mother, selling babies, Belgium couple, con artists, illegal surrogacy

• Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

  Kim Coseno's triplets had the same exact start in life as their mother . . . right down to the womb where they spent their first formative months. The surrogate "mother" who gave birth this week to Coseno's three little girls is also their grandmother. Read More... Posted Nov 12 2008, 11:25 AM by JeanneSager with | with no comments Filed under: triplets, family, multiples, surrogacy, grandmother, identical twins, Jeanne Sager, fraternal twins, surrogate, grandma

• Who needs a uterus? Or a partner?

  Perhaps this will finally kill the use of the miserable phrase "female-headed household" to mean "single parent." Reporting on a trend that says more to me about changing gender roles than anything Sarah Palin has done, the New York Times reports that like single women who felt their biological clocks ticking have done for decades, more and more single men—gay and straight—are choosing single fatherhood, through adoption or surrogacy. The Times reports that they face discrimination in their quest: Read More... Posted Sep 07 2008, 07:40 PM by Miriam Axel-Lute with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: fatherhood, single dads, surrogacy, egg donors, gay dads, male lactation

• Follow-Up: Surrogate Baby Could Get Visa If She Doesn't Get Adopted First

  Both Madeline and I recently wrote about Manji Yamada, the baby who was born via a surrogate mother in India but whose biological Japanese parents have since divorced. Because the biological mother no longer wants the child, it has been enormously difficult for the father to bring her home to Japan. So she is still in India, where her paternal grandmother has dutifully watched after her. Now, finally, some progress: A Japanese Justice Minister has said a visa will likely be granted to the girl, which would make good sense. Meanwhile, according to Agence France-Presse, a child welfare group in India is trying to adopt her. Read More... Posted Aug 15 2008, 12:42 PM by Jen Chaney with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Japan, india, surrogacy, surrogate moms, surrogate babies, surrogate motherhood, Manji Yamada

• A Surrogate Child With No Place to Call Home

  So here's a heartbreaking story to add some cheer to your day. According to CNN.com, and as Madeline also recently reported in this here blog, two-week old Manjhi Yamada is still stuck in a hospital in India and unable to go home. Why? She was delivered by an Indian surrogate mother who carried the baby on behalf of a Japanese couple. Then the couple got divorced and the Japanese mom decided she didn't want the child after all. Now the Japanese father and grandmother are having a hell of a time trying to bring the baby girl home to Japan. Read More... Posted Aug 12 2008, 01:26 PM by Jen Chaney with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Japan, india, surrogacy, surrogate moms, surrogate babies, Manjhi Yamada, surrogate motherhood

• "Baby Factory" Spurs Controversy in Poland

  A controversy has erupted in Poland over the opening of a "baby factory" in Warsaw. Nurse Elizhbeta Shimanskaya, who is 32, is charging parents the equivalent of about $21,000 for a surrogate mother to bear their babies. Parents must adopt the child birthed by one of the 37 surrogate mothers housed at the home no matter what its medical condition. Most Poles support the issue, but its faced vocal opposition from the Catholic Church, which is very powerful in Poland.  I'd like to know what the surrogates are getting paid.  Read More... Posted Aug 07 2008, 03:02 PM by Amy Kuras with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: exploitation, surrogacy, assisted reproduction, catholic, poland, fertility treatment, "baby factory"

• Tough Times Drive More Women To Sell Their Eggs

  I just saw Les Mis for the 400th time, and I couldn't help thinking about poor Fantine as I read a report this morning that found a 30% increase in the number of women selling their eggs.  If only Fantine had lived in current times, she could have sold her eggs instead of her body, and easily supported Cosette on the $7000 or so she would earn from each donation.  If she were willing to serve as a surrogate, she could take down upwards of $30,000. Read More... Posted Jul 31 2008, 02:32 PM by Amy S.F. Lutz with | with no comments Filed under: Egg donation, surrogacy, fertility treatment

• The (Donor) Kids Are All Right

  Two new studies show that children who were conceived via donor gametes or surrogacy ought to be told of their origins as soon as possible. But those kids are doing just as well and are just as close with their parents as those whose kids were conceived "naturally" according to the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge University.  One study showed that children who were told of their origin early on Read More... Posted Jul 11 2008, 12:02 PM by Amy Kuras with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: parents, fathers, mothers, infertility, donor sperm, surrogacy, donor eggs, family relationships, adjustment, Centre for Family Research, secrecy

• Transgender Man's Baby is Coming Soon, But What About the Birth Certificate?

  As the mother of two children with edited birth certificates, I am all about altering this official document when one of the parental categories just doesn't apply.  But in the case of Thomas Beatie and his wife they both apply, just not to the right person.    So what's a pregnant man to do?  Read More... Posted Jun 21 2008, 04:00 PM by Erin White with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, Slate, surrogacy, lesbian and gay families, transgender pregnancy, Thomas Beatie, birth certificate

• Having "The Talk" Gets Complicated

  When we were kids, "the talk" about how babies were made was probably pretty simple. Man, woman, love each other very much, special kind of hug, yadda yadda. But it was always a more complex world than that. More of us are facing the same kind of talk with our kids that may involve two mommies, two daddies, petri dishes, sperm donors, birth mothers, long plane flights to a foreign land and any combination of the above. Even those of us whose own stories are pretty straightforward and mainstream want to make sure we're inclusive of all the types of families our child may encounter. My daughter's preschool friends include...   Read More... Posted Apr 18 2008, 02:33 PM by Amy Kuras with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: children, adoption, IVF, gay parenting, surrogacy, sperm donor, adolescents, foreign adoption

• Friends Think Depressed Surrogate Mom to 8 is Crazy

  There are a couple of things going on in this story of a surrogate mom that are just, nicely put, very interesting. First, she is trying to get pregnant for the eighth time on behalf of someone other than herself. Wow, eight pregnancies is a lot of babies for any woman to bear. (Please don't confuse her with the surrogate mother to 12. Twelve!) The other thing is that this mom who has made a second career as a baby-haver is  43 years old and things are getting tough and she's starting to get depressed. She wanted to bear a sibling for the little girl, Isobel, whom she gave birth to in 2006, but nine weeks in to that pregnancy -- her egg and the 51-year-old father's sperm -- she miscarried. Her family is starting to worry. But the most striking thing for me ...   Read More... Posted Jan 22 2008, 10:35 AM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: child, childless, child birth, Conception, controversy, surrogacy, surrogate pregnancy, child rearing, surrogate mother, surrogate mothers, conceiving