Jo Yurcaba | NBC News | April 15, 2022
A gay couple filed a charge against New York City because the city’s insurance policy for IVF is discriminatory. The policy requires a diagnosis of infertility, which is defined as “inability to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse,” which excludes gay couples.
Adir Yanko | Ynet News | April 11, 2022
Israel’s Health Ministry announced that single gay males or gay couples who have frozen embryos abroad, or are planning to freeze them until the end of April, can bring them to Israel for insemination via a surrogate.
Blair Sowry | BioNews | February 21, 2022
For the first time, a baby has been born via surrogacy to a gay couple in North Ireland. The couple is now trying to register their child’s name under both of their names, which would set another precedent for LGBTQ couples in the country.
Clio Yang | ABC News | February 21, 2022
Mr. Tsou and his husband are looking for international surrogacy arrangements because adoption by gay married couples is not legal in Taiwan. However, a couple of exceptions have been granted in the best interest of the child, and more inclusive ART legislation is being reviewed by the government.
Ellen Trachman | Above the Law | February 9, 2022
A gay couple welcomed a surrogate-born child in California, but were unable to register the child under both of their names back in Denmark, as parenthood cannot be shared there between two men. Though Denmark was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, they now need to extend surrogacy regulations to include same-sex male parents as well.
Stuart Winer and TOI Staff | Times of Israel | January 4, 2022
Same-sex couples, single men, and transgender people can now become parents through surrogacy, an option previously denied to them in Israel. This ruling ends a decade-long legal battle that started with a petition filed by a gay couple in 2010. Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz also reassured prospective surrogates that the government is committed to protecting their rights and health.
James Moore | BioNews | November 22, 2021
Starting in July 2022, same-sex couples in Switzerland will be able to marry and access the same assisted reproduction, adoption, and fertility services as heterosexual couples. Surrogacy and egg donation remain illegal, so families desiring these services would only have access by traveling abroad.
David Dodge | Newsweek | November 22, 2021
The United States lacks a paid parental leave policy, which disproportionately affects queer men, because companies offering maternity leave policies often exclude or provide lesser benefits to the non-birthing partner. Laws must be updated to include all family structures and break the heteronormative expectation that the responsibility of childcare fall solely on women. While Congress debates legislation for national paid parental leave policies, independent businesses like Ikea and Target implemented their own all-inclusive paid leave policies.
Michaela Chen | BioNews | October 25, 2021
Irish couple Ranae von Meding and her wife, Audrey Rooney, won the right to be legally recognized as a two-mother family. The couple’s two daughters were conceived in Spain through reciprocal IVF, in which Rooney’s egg was fertilized in vitro and implanted into von Meding’s uterus. Only von Meding was recognized as the legal parent, though the two were married when Rooney gave birth to both daughters. Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 only recognizes same-sex couples who conceive and birth in Ireland, but von Meding and Rooney conceived in Spain because no Irish clinics offered reciprocal IVF at the time. Irish legislation is still lacking legal parenthood provisions on surrogacy, home insemination, and births abroad.
Nyasha Francis Nyaungwa | Reuters | October 13, 2021
A Namibian court ruled that the son of a gay couple, born via surrogacy in South Africa, is a Namibian citizen by descent. After a two year battle, High Court Judge Masuku ruled that a paternity test is not necessary to prove that Yona Luhl-Delgado is the son of Namibian Philip Luhl and his Mexican husband, Guillermo Delgado. Namibia’s legal system does not recognize same-sex marriages and criminalizes sexual conduct between men, but the law is seldom enforced, and this ruling comes as a “big win” for same-sex couples.