By Emily Woodruff | STAT | January 28, 2017
There has been little research on the long-term health outcomes for egg donors. Most of the research that has been conducted on egg extraction has focused on people undergoing in vitro fertilization (or IVF)—an entirely different population. This reality begs the question posed by one of the patients quoted in this article: “How informed can your consent be if we don’t have the information?”
Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome – It’s Time to Reverse the Trend
By Dr. Geeta Nargund | BioNews | Dec. 5, 2016
In this commentary, Dr. Geeta Nargund at CREATE Fertility, discusses the increase in ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) reported by fertility clinics in the United Kingdom.
In the author’s opinion, a report published by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) “obfuscates” real data – a 40 percent rise in hospital admissions with severe OHSS. She suggests the HFEA prioritize this “alarming statistic” and focus on reversing the trend, offering the following recommendations: a reduced dose of stimulation followed by GnRH agonist to trigger ovulation, with an option of cryopreservation of all embryos; and abandoning the use of the “long downregulation” protocol, employed in many IVF treatment cycles, and a switch to antagonist cycles.
In line with others in the field, Nargund also emphasizes the need for informed consent – placing the responsibility for this on providers – and rigorous documentation of the effects of stimulation protocols (including the drugs and dosages used).
Do Women Who Donate Their Eggs Run a Health Risk?
By Sandra G. Boodman | The Washington Post | June 20, 2016
A transaction once shrouded in secrecy, the Internet now hosts a thriving and competitive marketplace for donors, largely supplanting leaflets on college bulletin boards and ads in campus newspapers, the traditional methods of recruiting fertile young women. Payment varies, currently starting at about $3,500 per cycle and sometimes exceeding $50,000, depending on the location of the clinic or egg brokerage and the donor’s characteristics. An Ivy League education, Asian descent (there is a paucity of donors), exceptional looks and a previous donation that led to a birth command higher reimbursement.
This article provides a comparison between the experience of an egg provider who did not suffer any complications as a result of the process with another woman who was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer after 10 rounds of egg retrieval.
It includes interviews with noted experts, including Timothy R. B. Johnson, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, and Judy Stern, professor of pathology and obstetrics and gynecology at Dartmouth, who oversees a voluntary database called the Infertility Family Research Registry.
Kim Kardashian recently revealed in an episode of the reality TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” that she wants to explore surrogacy for a third child with her partner, Kanye West.
“If you use a surrogate, nobody has to know the whole time,” her sister Kourtney says in a clip from the show. “You could have a baby for a year and nobody would even know.”
This Daily Mail article from Nov. 7 describes the episode. It also chronicles other comments Kim has made about her first two pregnancies and her experience in both of a life-threatening condition called placenta accreta. This is a clinical condition resulting from the placenta, part of whole, attaching to the uterine wall.
Cambodia Bans Booming Commercial Surrogacy Industry
AFP | Nov. 3, 2016
[A] government edict sent to Cambodian fertility clinics and seen by AFP on Thursday (Nov 3) said that surrogacy was now “absolutely banned”.
Cambodia has become the latest country to ban surrogacy, following a government edict sent to all fertility clinics in the country.
Phon Puthborey, spokesman for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, describes this as a “transitional period” because the country does not have a law on the books but is looking for ways to effectively implement regulation.
“We are looking for (other) possible measures to respond to the matter effectively. It could be a surrogacy law that includes protections for women and children so that they would not become victims of trafficking,” he told AFP.
The article includes comments from a representative of Families Through Surrogacy, who describes Cambodia as “the last hope” after regulation in neighboring Thailand left many intended parents with fewer options.
The Dark Side of Cambodia’s Surrogacy Boom
By Flora Bagenal | News Deeply | July 4, 2016
With bans in major hubs – India, Nepal, and Thailand – and surrogacy moving into Cambodia, this article explores the underbelly in a country rushing to fill a gap, with no laws and little preparation. It quotes a representative from a prominent surrogacy agency in Australia, concerned by the rapid growth, lack of procedure, and the potential for harm to gestational mothers. This opinion is juxtaposed with the experiences of intended parents that have traveled to Cambodia, one of whom is concerned that excessive media attention will eventually force the government to enact unsympathetic regulation.
Is a Surrogate a Mother?
By Michelle Goldberg | Slate | Feb. 15, 2016
“Surrogacy’s been distinguished as something completely different from adoption,” says Lisa Ikemoto, a UC Davis School of Law professor who specializes in reproductive rights and bioethics. Unlike in adoption, there’s no legally required screening of intended parents. A pregnant woman who offers to give her baby up for adoption can reconsider her decision; in California, a pregnant surrogate cannot. To a large extent, the law “puts a lot of trust in a surrogacy center to make sure that these things are carried out appropriately,” Ikemoto says. “It’s very industry-friendly, and by ‘industry,’ I’m referring to the fertility industry.”
This article provides an overview of the Melissa Cook case — the story of a 47-year old woman in California who agreed to become a gestational mother and the “battle” that followed, between her and the intended parent, once she became pregnant with triplets.
Though based in the United States, a number of issues that emerged in the case have also been documented in international commercial surrogacy arrangements. This includes legal concerns related to contracts and their enforcement, practices that can impact the health of gestational mothers (such as reductions), and implications on the children that are born.
For those interested, the article also provides a lot of useful information on the 1986 Baby M case — the first contested surrogacy case in American history. Read the full article >
Republic of Unreason
By Suhrith Parthasarathy | The Hindu | Sept. 1, 2016
Now, there is little doubting that any reasonable government ought to concern itself at some level with the ethics of procreation, especially given the power equations at play in a contract of surrogacy. But is a complete proscription on commercial surrogacy a neutral position to take?
Framed by the death of a 30-year-old gestational mother in India in 2011, and the contract she signed agreeing to life support in order to protect the fetus in the event of life-threatening injury in the third trimester, this opinion article provides a critique of the Indian government’s recent ban on all commercial surrogacy.
Suhrith Parthasarathy comments on the requirements articulated in the new law — for intended parents, gestational mothers, and the money exchanged in between — highlighting flawed assumptions made by the bill and its “violation” of the constitutional pledge of equal treatment.
Inconvenient Truths About Commercial Surrogacy
By Kathleen Sloan and Jennifer Lahl | TwinCities Pioneer Press | March 31, 2014
The surrogacy industry, however, is like a hydra that refuses to respect legislative precedent. As soon as a surrogacy bill is defeated, another one immediately appears to take its place. In action more characteristic of a dictatorship than a democracy, the proponents of contract pregnancy insist on enforcing their will no matter how many times their discredited proposal is rejected.
Framed by Minnesota’s efforts in 2014 to regulate commercial surrogacy, this article reflects the views of the authors on the practice – most importantly, on its commodification of women’s bodies and the health, legal, and social risks to gestational mothers.
The authors are co-founders of a campaign called Stop Surrogacy Now. The initiative’s website claims to bring together a “worldwide, ethnically, religiously, and culturally diverse group opposed to the exploitation of women and the human trafficking of children through surrogacy.”
Wrong Steps: The First One from Three
By Pete Shanks | Deccan Chronicle | Oct. 2, 2016
News broke this week that the first “three-parent” baby had been born. But the untested and controversial nature of the procedure that created the child, and the end run around public policy that it entailed, raise many more questions than answers.
This article covers an experimental procedure that has, for the first time, successfully created a child using the DNA of three “parents.”
It briefly outlines the steps involved in Mitochondrial Replacement Technique (MRT), as well as the potential long-term health risks to the newborn and the ethical implications — including the medical provider’s decision to perform the procedure in Mexico, where there is no regulation. (As author Pete Shanks noes, it may not be “technically illegal” in the United States, but Congress has not permitted the Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical trials).
Plus: Responding to the news, Marcy Darnovsky, director of the Center for Genetics and Society, told NBC News: “No researcher or doctor has the right to flout agreed-upon rules and make up their own. This is an irresponsible and unethical act, and sets a dangerous precedent.”
Earlier this year, Darnovsky discussed her concerns related to MRT during an interview on PBS NewsHour. Watch below.
