Tag: intended parents

Article: In Search of Surrogates, Foreign Couples Descend on Ukraine

In Search of Surrogates, Foreign Couples Descend on Ukraine
By Kevin Ponniah | BBC News | Feb. 13, 2018

Foreign couples have been coming to this corner of Europe in droves since 2015, when surrogacy hotspots in Asia began closing their industries one-by-one, amid reports of exploitation. Barred from India, Nepal and Thailand, they turned to Ukraine, one of the few places left where surrogacy can still be arranged at a fraction of what it costs in the US.

This article covers the “rise” of Ukraine as a destination for intended parents hoping to form families via surrogacy. It follows Ana, who became a gestational mother at 21 years and, at 24 years, is carrying another pregnancy for Japanese intended parents she will never meet.

It also provides a short overview of the current surrogacy law in Ukraine, the main tenets of which are as follows:

  • Surrogacy is available to heterosexual, married couples able to prove they cannot carry a baby themselves for medical reasons.
  • At least one parent must have a genetic link to the baby.
  • The intended parents are on the Ukrainian birth certificate; the gestational mother has no legal right to claim custody of the child.

Read the full article >

Book: Gender Before Birth: Sex Selection in a Transnational Context

Gender Before Birth: Sex Selection in a Transnational Context
By Rajani Bhatia | University of Washington Press | 2018
Buy at Amazon >

From the publisher’s website:

In the mid-1990s, the international community pronounced prenatal sex selection via abortion an “act of violence against women” and “unethical.” At the same time, new developments in reproductive technology in the United States led to a method of sex selection before conception; its US inventor marketed the practice as “family balancing” and defended it with the rhetoric of freedom of choice. In Gender before Birth, Rajani Bhatia takes on the double standard of how similar practices in the West and non-West are divergently named and framed.

Bhatia’s extensive fieldwork includes interviews with clinicians, scientists, biomedical service providers, and feminist activists, and her resulting analysis extends both feminist theory on reproduction and feminist science and technology studies. She argues that we are at the beginning of a changing transnational terrain that presents new challenges to theorized inequality in reproduction, demonstrating how the technosciences often get embroiled in colonial gender and racial politics.

 

Video: Deseos (“Longing”)

Deseos
By GIRE Mexico | 2017

GIRE, a Mexico-based organization that has studied, documented, published, and advocated on international recently released a documentary on the practice in 2017. “Deseos” or “Longing” follows Mirna, a divorced gestational mother with three of her own and shines a critical light on the lack of regulation around surrogacy in Mexico.

Visit GIRE’s website and read the organization’s latest report on surrogacy in Mexico. In it, GIRE offers a comprehensive overview of the current status of surrogacy, the scope of the debate around the practice, legal frameworks, cases, and recommendations. The last includes, for example:

  • Legislation that defines surrogacy as a contract between gestational mothers and intended parents.
  • Decriminalization of all the parties involved, including any criminalization based on nationality, sexual orientation, marital status, and age.
  • Quality and confidential health and legal care for gestational mothers.
  • Guarantees that costs related to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum be covered by intended parents (regardless of birth outcomes).
  • Contract revisions be contingent on the involvement of a competent notary/judge and consent of all parties.
  • Notifications of relevant state and federal authorities to avoid problems related to registration, legal parentage, and citizenship while contracts are valid or after birth.

Read the full report > 

Article: Green Light for Australians’ Surrogate Babies to Leave Cambodia

Green Light for Australians’ Surrogate Babies to Leave Cambodia
By Lindsay Murdoch | The Sydney Morning Herald | April 3, 2017

In this update from Cambodia, a number of Australian intended parents are now being allowed to leave the country with their children. To do so, they must prove a biological link to a child and obtain a gestational mother’s approval.

The article also outlines the case against Australian nurse Tammy Davis-Charles, who is currently in jail in Cambodia for facilitating surrogacy arrangements and charging Australian intended parents $US 50,000 per child. If sentenced, Davis-Charles could spend up to two years in prison.

Read the full article >

News Program: The Legal and Ethical Complexities of Sperm and Egg Donation

The Legal and Ethical Complexities of Sperm and Egg Donation
By Nightlife | March 27, 2017

Listen to medical research scientist, Damian Adams and Associate Professor in Health Law, Dr. Sonia Allen discuss challenges around sperm and egg donation, including issues related to the rights of parents, donors, and children.

Dr. Sonia Allen consults with the South Australian government on ARTs, sperm and egg donation. A report on her review of the South Australian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 1988 is available to read.

Update: In November 2017, the South Australian government tabled their response to the review conducted by Dr. Allan from 2015-2017. The Hon. Peter Malinauskas, Minister for Health, thanked Dr. Allan, stating the government had commissioned her due to her international expertise in the field. He then committed the government to establishing a donor-conception register, making the rights of donor-conceived people “a main priority for South Australia” and committing to implementing changes that “best reflect Dr. Allan’s recommendations.” Victoria enacted Dr. Allan’s model for access to information by donor-conceived people into law in March 2017 – the first of its kind in the world – and now South Australia has made the commitment to follow. 

Article: As Mexican State Limits Surrogacy, Global System is Further Strained

As Mexican State Limits Surrogacy, Global System is Further Strained
By Victoria Burnett | The New York Times | March 23, 2017

Legal in the Mexican state of Tabasco since 1997, international commercial surrogacy is now under fire in the country.

This article tracks changes to the law – restricting Mexican gestational mothers from carrying children for foreigners – with analysis of how the new policy will be implemented. It follows gestational mothers, for whom surrogacy is a vital source of income, in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the country, as well as intended parents locked in legal battle with authorities that are stalling on birth certificates after the new restriction was enforced.

With this development, Mexico is the next (fallen) chip in the global practice of international commercial surrogacy.

Read the full article >

Book: Babies for Sale? Transnational Surrogacy, Human Rights and the Politics of Reproduction

Babies for Sale? Transnational Surrogacy, Human Rights and the Politics of Reproduction
Editor: Miranda Davies | Zed Books | March 2017
Buy at Amazon >

From the publisher’s website:

Featuring contributions from over thirty activists and scholars from a range of countries and disciplines, this collection offers the first genuinely international study of transnational surrogacy. Its innovative bottom-up approach, rooted in feminist perspectives, gives due prominence to the voices of those most affected by the global surrogacy chain, namely the surrogate mothers, donors, prospective parents and the children themselves. Through case studies ranging from Israel to Mexico, the book outlines the forces that are driving the growth of transnational surrogacy, as well as its implications for feminism, human rights, motherhood and masculinity.

Our Bodies Ourselves is a contributor to the anthology, along with an impressive line up of experts in the field. (Read the table of contents.)

In a chapter titled “Frequently Unasked Questions: Understanding and Responding to Gaps in Public Knowledge of International Surrogacy Practices Worldwide,” Our Bodies Ourselves shares findings from an analysis of publicly-accessible information on international commercial surrogacy. This includes a random survey of news media articles and the websites of select international agents. The chapter also introduces readers to this information clearinghouse on the practice.

The Our Bodies Ourselves blog recently posted an article, authored by staff member Ayesha Chatterjee, on the contribution made by “Babies for Sale?” to literature on international commercial surrogacy.  

For a special 40 percent discount, buy the book on the Zed website using the code “BABIESZED.” This offer is time limited and will end May 31, 2017. 

Article: In Japan First, Woman Gives Birth Using Egg From Anonymous Donor

In Japan First, Woman Gives Birth Using Egg From Anonymous Donor
By Mizuho Aoki | Japan Times | March 22, 2017

Japan has witnessed the birth of its first baby using anonymous donor eggs. As the country prepares for others, important questions about legal parentage and the status of birth mothers are also being raised.

According to this article, a 2007 ruling by the Japanese Supreme Court currently grants legal status to the woman who gives birth. While there is no precedent or specification in the civil code for when a child is born as a result of donated eggs, a draft bill granting legal status to the birth mother in third-party reproduction could be in the pipeline.

Read the full article >

Article: The Practical Case for Legalizing Surrogacy

The Practical Case for Legalizing Surrogacy
By Ding Chunyan | Sixth Tone | March 22, 2017

I propose that we legalize altruistic gestational surrogacy — that is, procedures involving a third-party surrogate mother with no biological relation to the child, and who receives no financial compensation for taking on the role. To protect the interests of the surrogate mother, the intended parents, and the surrogate child, the government should establish clear rules specifying the qualifications for both the surrogate mother and intended parents, as well as the conditions for surrogacy, the restrictions on reimbursement, the privacy of those involved, and the child’s right to know of that it was born from the arrangement.

Citing laws that are, in the author’s opinion, “simply not up to the task of solving the current complex tangle of legal and regulatory problems related to surrogacy,” this article chronicles issues facing surrogacy in China. It includes: the rampant use of non-ARTs – not covered by regulation – in surrogacy arrangements; judicial bias towards genetic parentage; precedents set by divorce cases that have not always granted custody to the more “capable” parent; and the rise of entities and a “black market” willing to violate law.

Legalizing altruistic surrogacy is the proposed fix by Ding Chunyan, an associate professor at the Law School of Hong Kong City University, along with the creation of a neutral oversight body. Success, in her opinion, is also pinned on her proposal to ban commercial surrogacy.

Read the full article >

Article: UK Court of Appeals Rules that Baby Should Live With Surrogate

UK Court of Appeals Rules that Baby Should Live With Surrogate
By NGA Law

This blog is published by a UK-based law firm that specializes in modern family law and has, reportedly, handled many of the UK’s leading cases on surrogacy, assisted reproduction, and LGBT families. It analyzes the rejection of an appeal by a same-sex couple for parental rights and physical custody of their surrogate-delivered child, currently living with the gestational mother in compliance with an earlier court order. It discusses the significance of the case for same-sex intended parents living in the UK and provides suggestions to address “common fears” related to perceptions that surrogacy arrangements frequently involve legal disputes and can result in gestational mothers being granted parental rights.

Read the full blog >

Another case – the fifth in the UK – recently tested the country’s legal framework around international commercial surrogacy. In November, a court ruled against a gestational mother’s attempt to keep the child, but complicated matters by granting her restricted visitation. While UK courts have historically decided parental disputes based on the best interests of the child, there are calls for more consistency when such disputes emerge. All eyes are on the Law Commission, which is expected to tackle the issue in the near future. Watch this space.