Category: Initiatives

Initiative: Responsible Surrogacy

Responsible Surrogacy is a web-based project created by a group of volunteers in Israel. It provides people considering surrogacy with information on the ethical and practical aspects of an arrangement. The information is available in Hebrew and English.

The site is facilitated by intended parents who believe “the ethical responsibility for the surrogacy process lies with the intended parents.” From the About page:

Surrogacy is a difficult process for all involved in many aspects, and it is often initiated after much hardship for the intended parents. For those in need of it, surrogacy is commonly the last hope to raise a family. They reach it exhausted but with a sense of purpose. Perhaps that is why in many cases we have encountered upon building this information center there was a tendency of intended parents to neglect one of the most important points – on the other side of this process is a person.

The website functions like a database, providing information on issues related to the health and well-being of gestational mothers, including the fairness of the contract, monetary and legal considerations, and the woman’s relationship with the intended parents.

The site’s creators believe these – and other – aspects should be considered irrespective of where an arrangement is formed, but intended parents must also seek current and accurate country-specific information for guidance.

responsible-surrogacy-goals

Initiative: We Are Egg Donors

we-are-egg-donors

We Are Egg Donors was founded by three egg providers. The platform enables egg providers from more than 12 countries to connect with one another, share their experiences, and access evidence-based research on egg retrieval. We Are Egg Donors operates a Facebook group for approved members and an informative blog.

By sharing our stories, we create a meaningful conversation and advocate for causes that matter to egg donors.

With organizations like Our Bodies Ourselves, We Are Egg Donors is actively calling for long-term studies on the health effects of egg retrieval. Co-founder Raquel Cool has written extensively about her experience for OBOS’s blog.

Others members of the 1000+ strong We Are Egg Donors network have also shared their stories. In a candid photo essay, Christine, a first time egg donor, walks us through every step of her egg retrieval journey. In an interview describing efforts to access her medical records from the clinic, Rae cautions that egg providers may not be protected by HIPAA (the United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information). Lauren shares their experience of stigma, as a queer egg provider navigating a heteronormative medical space, while Carter shares her own as an egg provider within and for someone in her family.

We Are Egg Donors invites other egg providers to share their stories and welcomes them into the network.

Initiative: Stop Surrogacy Now

Stop Surrogacy Now
Global | 2015

Stop Surrogacy Now is a global effort to oppose the “exploitation of women and the human trafficking of children through surrogacy.” According to the website, the group includes more than 100 individuals and 16 organizations from 18 countries, who believe all forms of surrogacy should be stopped because it is an abuse of women’s and children’s human rights.

In an article published on Public Discourse, co-founder Kathleen Sloan, describes the genesis of Stop Surrogacy Now, from 2011, when she and co-founder Jennfier Lahl first met at a screening of the documentary Eggsploitation, to the initiative’s current reach and status as a network that has, says Sloan, brought together people who might otherwise be “at each other’s throats.”

Here is an excerpt:

What sets this campaign apart is that Stop Surrogacy Now (SSN) unites organizations and individuals with opposing positions on many other issues—including the emotionally explosive issue of abortion. In the United States especially, no other issue ignites such passionate responses and produces such vitriolic debate. It has even led to violence, including eight murders and over forty clinic bombings. As time goes on, the contentiousness of the issue only seems to increase rather than dissipate. It is therefore extraordinary that so many people who stand on opposite sides of this issue have come together to stop the surrogacy juggernaut.

This campaign also brings together the fervently religious and the entirely non-religious, those who advocate LGBTQ rights and those who oppose same-sex marriage, feminists and non-feminists, the radical right and the radical left along with those in between, neoliberal capitalists and socialists, death-with-dignity supporters and those who consider it to be a form of euthanasia.

Visit Stop Surrogacy Now, read the full article, and follow the initiative’s outreach with The Hague on the human rights issues posed by international commercial surrogacy.