Baby photo competition - Vote for your favourite picture

We started our Pride Angel baby photo competition at the beginning of March and we are delighted with the wonderful response we have received. The pictures of the babies are beautiful and a real credit to all the news mums and dads out there, please view our babies in our gallery. The competition is soon to come to an end and we thank all of those who have already voted. We would really like to see as many votes as possible before we make our final decision, so please send your votes to info@prideangel.com or simply just click contact us and enter the babies name and age. There will be a prize for the winning photo and the runner up: • 1st prize is a £50 mothercare voucher • Runner-up prize is a £20 mothercare voucher We also want to remind all our readers about our competition to receive £150 mothercare vouchers Having babies and toddlers can be expensive as they just keep on growing. Imagine what you could buy with £150 Mothercare vouchers, an endless supply of nappies, new baby clothes, a new pushchair, whatever you would buy, the choice is entirely yours! How to get your free vouchers? Pride Angel would love to hear about your experiences, whether you have: • Found a donor through Pride Angel? • Got pregnant using a Pride Angel insemination kit? • Starting the journey to parenthood and considering different options? • Co-parenting with a single person or gay couple? • Used a friend as a sperm donor? • Using IVF treatment or going through surrogacy? Are you willing to write a small blog/article about your personal experiences in the region of 200-500 words? Personal names do not need to be included if you prefer not to. The best article will be published on Pride Angel and will be rewarded with £150 mothercare vouchers. Any other articles which we may choose to add to Pride Angel will be rewarded £50 in mothercare vouchers. Speak to us for more information, just contact us. Enter your article by email: info@prideangel.com

Failed IVF attempts lead to depression and anxiety

Women who are stressed and anxious before in vitro fertilization (IVF) are no less likely to have a baby, new research suggests. But if the treatment fails, it may take a toll on their mental health. In two separate studies in the journal Fertility and Sterility, researchers found women with anxiety or depression symptoms were just as likely as others to become pregnant. One study focused on women undergoing IVF and the other followed women trying to conceive naturally. "Our findings are consistent with the most recent research," said Lauri A. Pasch, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco Center for Reproductive Health, and the lead researcher on the IVF study. Based on that body of research, she told Reuters Health, "I think we can safely say to women, ‘Stop worrying about being worried.'" Women should not feel pressured to be a "good IVF patient" who's free of stress, Pasch said. And they should not blame themselves if they feel stressed out and their IVF attempt fails. The other study, from the UK, looked at 339 women who were trying to become pregnant naturally. Overall, 61 percent of them became pregnant over about six months. And the odds of success were not linked to women's mental well-being once the researchers accounted for factors like their age and smoking habits, a team led by Courtney Lynch of the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus reported. WHEN IVF DOESN'T WORK On the other hand, women who try IVF and fail may see their mental health suffer, Pasch and her colleagues found. The researchers followed 202 women undergoing IVF at five San Francisco practices. All of the women were interviewed before their IVF attempt, which included standard questionnaires on depression and anxiety. Overall, the study found, women whose IVF treatment failed were at greater risk of anxiety or depression in the months afterward. Of 103 women with a failed attempt, 60 percent had symptoms of a clinical anxiety disorder - up slightly from 57 percent before their IVF cycles. And 44 percent had clinical depression, which was up from 26 percent before treatment. It's not surprising that many women with a failed IVF attempt would have such symptoms, according to Pasch. But there has actually been little research into how IVF outcomes may affect women's mental health, she said. And although women with a failed try at IVF were at higher risk, even women who became pregnant had substantial rates of depression and anxiety, Pasch's team found. During pregnancy, 30 percent of those women had depression in the "clinical range," while half had clinical-level anxiety. Those rates were close to what they were before IVF. According to Pasch, infertility practices should do more to help women with mental health symptoms - though not because it would be expected to improve their odds of IVF success. "Psychological interventions need to be geared toward helping women feel better, and not toward increasing their chances of pregnancy," Pasch said. Some larger, university-linked infertility centers have on-site services for women who want mental health counseling. But most practices do not, Pasch said. Women can, however, ask their center for a referral to counseling if they need it. Pasch said there are also organizations that offer help, like information on local support groups. Article: 27th June 2012 www.uk.reuters.com

IVF treatment in younger women may increase chance of breast cancer

IVF treatment in younger women dramatically increases their chance of developing breast cancer later in life, research suggests. Women who started taking fertility drugs and went through IVF around their 24th birthday were found to have a 56 per cent greater chance of developing breast cancer than those in the same age group who went through treatments without IVF. But there was no increased risk for women who started fertility treatments when they were about 40 years old, regardless of whether they had IVF or not, according to the Australian study The researchers said: 'For younger women there is some cause for concern, because it appears that they may face an increased risk of breast cancer after IVF treatment.' The findings were based on a study of more than 21,000 women and published in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Study author Louise Stewart from the University of Western Australia said younger women might see an increased risk of breast cancer because they are exposed to higher levels of circulating estrogen during their cycles of IVF treatment. In the UK 45,264 women had IVF treatment in 2010. A third of women under 35 successfully had a child as a result However, she added: 'I don't think it's a huge increased risk that you should worry or panic (about).' The researchers collected information on 21,025 women between the ages of 20 and 40 who went through fertility treatment at the hospitals of Western Australia between 1983 and 2002. They were able to piece together enough data to follow the women for some 16 years to see if they developed breast cancer. Roughly 1.7 per cent of the 13,644 women who only used fertility drugs without IVF ended up developing breast cancer by the end of the study. That figure was about two percent for women who used fertility drugs and underwent IVF - a difference that researchers said wasn't statistically significant. This changed when women were divided into different age groups, with women aged 24 about one-and-a-half times more likely to develop breast cancer if they had IVF alongside other fertility treatments. However, Stewart said they couldn't yet say that IVF was causing the increased cancer risk in younger women, as these women could be different in some significant way from those who only have other types of fertility treatment. 'If for example, younger women who had IVF were more likely to have a specific cause of infertility, and this was related to an increased risk of breast cancer, then it would appear that IVF was related to breast cancer when in fact it was the type of infertility that was more common in women who had IVF,' she said. Linda Giudice, president-elect of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, added: 'The development of breast cancer is linked to estrogen exposure and the longer one is exposed, the greater the risk. 'In an IVF cycle there is a short, but significant elevation in circulating estrogen, and whether this is linked to the observations found in the study is not clear at this time.' The researchers said the study results would reassure women who start IVF treatment in their 30s and 40s. However, they added: 'Women should be aware that delivering their first child late in reproductive life, whether assisted by IVF or not, is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.' Statistically, younger women have a greater chance of successfully having a baby following IVF. They suggested a follow-up study of women who undergo a greater range of cycles to see if there's a connection between IVF 'dose' and breast cancer rate. Article: 25th June 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk

Gay parents are just as good as straight parents says the American Psychological Association

A recent study called into question the ability of gay parents to raise well-rounded children, but the report has been widely blasted as biased, manipulative, and agenda-based. Now the American Psychological Association has stepped in to reiterate its belief that gay parents are just as good as straight parents. "On the basis of a remarkably consistent body of research on lesbian and gay parents and their children, the American Psychological Association and other health, professional, and scientific organizations have concluded that there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation," the APA announced on its website earlier this week. "That is, lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children. This body of research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children are unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish." The APA was responding to the "New Family Structures Study," which called into question the effectiveness of gay parenting. But according to several equality groups, the study is majorly flawed. According to a joint press release from the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry, Family Equality Council, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the paper was "written by rightwing author Mark Regnerus (of the Department of Sociology and Population Center at the University of Texas at Austin) and funded in large part by the antigay Witherspoon Institute." It "makes a number of claims about negative outcomes for children raised by gay and lesbian parents. However, for the most part, the paper doesn't even look at same-sex couples raising a child together in a longterm committed relationship." Many of the study's children considered to be raised in gay households were not being raised by parents in a committed same-sex relationship, whereas many of the children in heterosexual households had two married parents. Children of parents who had at one time in their lives been in a same-sex relationship were considered to be part of a "gay household." The bias of the report has sparked much ire. The equality groups point out the study's major funder, the Witherspoon Institute, is connected to antigay groups like Opus Dei and the National Organization for Marriage. It's no surprise that people and groups connected to NOM and the Mormon Church jumped on the findings. Article: 14th June 2012 www.advocate.com

Mum of first IVF test-tube baby Louise Brown dies today

The mum of the first test-tube baby to be born after IVF treatment in 1978, has died after a short illness. Mrs Lesley Brown made history when she successfully conceived after treatment by Dr Patrick Steptoe and Professor Robert Edwards. Her daughter Louise, now 33, was born in July 1978 in Oldham General Hospital after she and her husband John had tried to have a baby for nine years. Louise's arrival paved the way for millions of couples to have children via fertility treatment. Mrs Brown went on to have a second daughter, Natalie, after another round of IVF. She also leaves a stepdaughter, Sharon, from her husband's first marriage, and five grandchildren. Speaking on behalf of the family, Louise, who has a five-year-old son called Cameron, said: "Mum was a very quiet and private person who ended up in the world spotlight because she wanted a family so much. We are all missing her terribly." Mrs Brown had been unable to conceive naturally because her Fallopian tubes were blocked Describing her referral to Dr Steptoe, she said: "It was a very different process to what it is now. "So many people now need to go through IVF whereas, at the start, I felt like I was the only one." Tributes were also paid by bosses at the clinic, set up by Nobel Prize-winner Professor Edwards, which developed the treatment. Mike Macamee, from the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, said: "Lesley was a devoted mum and grandmother and through her bravery and determination many millions of women have been given the chance to become mothers." A family friend described how photographers desperate for a photograph of newborn Louise had triggered a bomb scare at the hospital, leaving Mrs Brown "mortified". Martin Powell said: "Everyone had to evacuate the hospital. Lesley was so mortified, she said she felt she was to blame for people having to leave their beds." Her husband John, a former railway man, died in 2007 aged 64. Article: 21st June 2012 www.telegraph.co.uk

US Senator to introduce new bill to expand fertility treatment for veterans

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will introduce legislation Tuesday to expand fertility coverage for female veterans and severely wounded service members, to include options such as surrogate pregnancies and advanced reproductive health services for those unable to bear children naturally. The proposed Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012 is designed to strengthen Veterans Affairs Department programs for female veterans and severely injured veterans who want to start families, according to a release from Murrays office. The Defense Department and Tricare cover some fertility treatments for severely injured troops; the new legislation would expand VA services, including offering treatment to the spouses of qualifying wounded veterans. The legislation would expand research into the long-term reproductive health care needs of veterans and create a pilot program to provide child care to veterans seeking counseling at VAs 300 Vet Centers, which offer counseling services, outreach and referrals. The bill also would direct VA to improve outreach to female veterans by allowing VAs Women Veterans Call Center to take incoming calls. Between 2001 and November 2011, 1,205 service members sustained one or more injuries to their genitourinary systems in combat. The average casualty age was 26 years old, according to the Joint Theater Trauma Registry. Murray, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, will introduce the legislation tomorrow at 2:30 on Capitol Hill, prior to the screening of a new documentary SERVICE: When Women Come Marching Home, a film focusing on the challenges women face after serving in the U.S. military. The screening is co-hosted by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Murrays office did not provide an estimated cost of the proposed legislation. Article: 18th June 2012 www.navytimes.com

Wishing all dads out there a fantastic father’s day! Whether you are gay or straight, single or in a relationship, there are so many ways in which being a ‘dad’ can play an important role in a child’s life. You may be a donor wishing to stay in contact with a child like an ‘uncle figure’ or maybe you are co-parenting with a single woman or lesbian couple. Your family may have been created by fostering, adoption or even surrogacy. Whatever the process - one thing is for sure, that the journey to parenthood although not always easy, will have brought joy and love to your lives. We at Pride Angel have thousands of female members wishing to meet genuine sperm donors or co-parents willing to give the gift of life. Why not play a role in their child’s lives, whether it’s simply enabling a child to be able to send a father’s day card or even having regular contact with their dad. So if you think you can help someone create their dream of having a family and even achieve your own dream of becoming a ‘dad’ then why not register today for FREE with Pride Angel. Article: by Pride Angel 17th June 2012

Gay dads spend $100,000 to ensure next child is a girl

Gay Dads: Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow, from Essex, England already have five kids via egg donors and surrogates — 4 boys and a girl. But the millionaire dads want more! They have now spent over $100,000 to ensure their next child is a girl. As reported in Britain’s Daily Mail, the couple flew to California to use IVF treatment to ensure the baby’s sex. (The treatment is not legal in Britain.) The couple used their sperm to fertilize three eggs, all of which are being carried by a surrogate mother. With the expensive and uncommon IVF treatment, the probability is high that one if not all of the triplets will be female. Barrie and Tony already have two sets of twins, Aspen and Saffron, and Jasper and Dallas, plus a middle son, Orlando. In naming the new triplets, we suggest Liesl, Brigitta and Gretl. These poppas love their wee ones, don’t you forget it. As Barrie told Britain’s Closer magazine: “We can’t wait to spoil our new daughters. I want to buy them pink Prada dresses and babygros. “We will recycle too. We are going to use Saffron’s old wicker crib from Harrods, which cost £5,000, and divide one of the £100,000 diamond necklaces she does not wear any more into individual pieces for the babies. “And we want to decorate the nursery as a rainforest!” “Saffron’s clothes come from every designer from Gucci and Karen Millen and she has 500 pairs of shoes. “We spent £50,000 having her room designed like a swanky London flat with a 39-inch plasma TV and furniture from Harrods. The boys are not as bothered about clothes, but we get them the latest iPads and laptops.” The couple first hit their beloved media spotlight in 1999, when they became Britain’s first legally recognized same-sex couple. When they had their first set of twins, Aspen and Saffron, both dad’s names we placed on their children’s birth certificates. Article: 12th June 2012 www.queerty.com

Wearing tight Y-fronts really does affect sperm counts

UK study has shown that men with unhealthy lifestyles produce as much swimming sperm as those living more sensibly. But those who wore tight underwear instead of loose boxer shorts and did manual work had lower sperm counts. Under current guidelines, GPs are supposed to warn men diagnosed with infertility of the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs. Infertile men are also urged to avoid being overweight. In some cases, fertility treatment is delayed to allow couples time to improve their lifestyles. But the new research suggests none of these factors has much impact on the number of swimming sperm a man produces. Co-author Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said men should still take care of themselves, without feeling the need to ''become monks''. '''In spite of our results, it's important that men continue to follow sensible health advice and watch their weight, stop smoking and drink alcohol within sensible limits. But there is no need for them to become monks just because they want to be a dad. "Although if they are a fan of tight Y-fronts, then switching underpants to something a bit looser for a few months might be a good idea.'' Scientists recruited 2,249 men from 14 fertility clinics around the UK and asked them to fill out detailed lifestyle questionnaires. Information was then compared from 939 men who produced low numbers of swimming sperm and 1,310 men who produced higher numbers. The results, reported in the journal Human Reproduction, showed that men with poor quality sperm were 2.5 times more likely to have had testicular surgery, and twice as likely to be of black ethnicity. They were also 1.3 times more likely to do manual work, not wear loose boxer shorts, or not to have had a previous conception. But men's use of tobacco, alcohol and recreational drugs made little difference, as did their weight as measured by body mass index (BMI). Study leader Dr Andrew Povey, from the University of Manchester, said: ''Despite lifestyle choices being important for other aspects of our health, our results suggest that many lifestyle choices probably have little influence on how many swimming sperm they ejaculate. For example, whether the man was a current smoker or not was of little importance. The proportion of men who had low numbers of swimming sperm was similar whether they had never been a smoker or a smoker who was currently smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day. ''Similarly, there was little evidence of any risk associated with alcohol consumption. ''This potentially overturns much of the current advice given to men about how they might improve their fertility and suggests that many common lifestyle risks may not be as important as we previously thought. ''Delaying fertility treatment then for these couples so that they can make changes to their lifestyles, for which there is little evidence of effectiveness, is unlikely to improve their chances of a conception and, indeed, might be prejudicial for couples with little time left to lose.'' The number of swimming sperm broadly correlates with how fertile a man is likely to be. It also often determines the type of fertility treatment that is offered. Fellow expert Professor Nicola Cherry, formerly at the University of Manchester and now with the University of Alberta in Canada, added: ''The higher risk we found in manual workers is consistent with earlier findings that chemicals at work could affect sperm and that men should continue to keep work exposures as low as possible.'' Article: 13th June 2012 www.telegraph.co.uk

Canadian sperm donor and lesbian couple fight for rights over child

Lesbian parents in Canada say they had an agreement: Rene deBlois would donate his sperm for artificial insemination and play no role in the life of any child that resulted. Mr. deBlois says he signed that deal “under duress,” had second thoughts when Tyler Lavigne was born and is now demanding that the courts recognize him as a father with liberal access rights. The resulting dispute in the Northern Ontario town of Cochrane is headed for a potentially precedent-setting trial, tackling head on the legal murkiness that often surrounds the increasingly common exchange of donated eggs and semen. “We’re doing what we think is best for our child. He’s being raised in a happy and healthy environment,” Nicole Lavigne, one of Tyler’s mothers, said in an interview Tuesday. “His family is complete…. I think it’s very important that people be secure that the family they’ve created won’t be disrupted.” The donor, on the other hand, said in his Ontario Superior Court application that Ms. Lavigne, an acquaintance from elementary school days, has failed to respond with her part of their original bargain, by carrying a child for him. “[Ms. Lavigne] threatens and intimidates [Mr. deBlois] with the existence of the contract,” the document said. “He is no longer comfortable with the arrangement, and would like the contract voided.” Growing numbers of children are being born in Canada as a result of in-vitro fertilization and other forms of “assisted” reproduction, often to same-sex couples. When donations are obtained anonymously from sperm banks, and in the few provinces with laws that directly address the issue, parenthood is generally uncontested. In situations where couples and single people make arrangements with sperm donors they know, however — especially in provinces that lack such legislation — the rights of the various parties remain largely unresolved. A smattering of mostly lower-court rulings have addressed the question, but most of the cases have had complicating factors, such as a past relationship between the donor and recipient. The Cochrane dispute, however, boasts the most clear-cut set of facts of any to reach the courts, making it an ideal legal testing ground, said Fiona Kelly, a University of British Columbia law professor who studies the issue. Same-sex and other advocacy groups are planning to request intervenor status in the trial, expected to begin this fall, though the issue is important to single people and heterosexual couples, as well, said Michelle Flowerday, a Toronto lawyer representing Ms. Lavigne and her partner of 15 years, Selena Kazimierski. “It raises so many important issues,” she said. “The issues are really close to the heart of parenting.” According to Mr. deBlois’s application, filed a few months after Tyler’s birth in October, 2010, he remembers Ms. Lavigne as a “bully” from their time at Commando Senior Public School with whom he had not been in contact since 1992 when she approached him in 2008 about donating sperm. She initially offered to carry a second child for him, but the agreement that he eventually signed did not touch on that part of their discussion, saying only that he would relinquish rights to the first child, the donor’s application says. As Mr. deBlois supplied sperm on a sometimes daily basis, Ms. Lavigne performed artificial insemination at home, conceiving in 2010. Feeling he had been coerced into the deal, he asked the court after Tyler was born to require that he be officially recognized as the father and given “general and liberal” access to the boy, the application says. Mr. deBlois was not available to comment, but Ms. Lavigne said the court action came out of the blue and left the couple “shocked,” the tension exacerbated by a small-town culture that is not always tolerant of same-sex parenting. “It’s been very stressful,” she said. Prof. Kelly said judges in similar cases have tended to side with the sperm donor, but argued the Cochrane case, involving a stable couple and a child they have raised from birth, should offer the court a clear choice. “To decide in favour of the donor in this case, with these facts, would suggest that a lesbian couple in Canada can never be the sole legal parents of a child conceived with a known donor,” said Prof Kelly. “This would be an extremely troubling outcome.” Article: 5th June 2012 www.news.nationalpost.com Read more about fertility and parenting law in the UK.

Surrogacy in India - why the UK law needs to change

Indian surrogacy is a hot media topic, with several stories over the past week about couples being stuck in India waiting for British passports for their biological children. As far as we are concerned, this isn’t really news – it is the shared experience of every British parent who has had a child through surrogacy in India, and something we deal with on a daily basis. A surrogacy industry has grown rapidly in India over the past few years, attracting Western intended parents with limited surrogacy options at home. Although the Indian parliament is considering introducing Indian surrogacy laws (one feature of the proposed Bill being to restrict surrogacy for foreign parents), there is widespread doubt about when or if these laws will ever be passed. With no law to regulate Indian surrogacy as things stand, a profitable surrogacy market has sprung up. Clinics rely on Indian contract law to draw up binding agreements between surrogates and intended parents, and registrars facilitate naming intended parents on Indian birth certificates. All together, it adds up to an affordable but unregulated way of having a child for infertile and gay couples. But Indian surrogacy is not as simple as it seems for British intended parents. UK law says that the surrogate is the mother of the child and, if she is married, her husband is the father, and these rules apply no matter where in the world the child is conceived. In practice this means that getting named on an Indian birth certificate is false comfort, since the Indian birth certificate will not be recognised for any UK legal purposes. Getting home is just the first hurdle. Most children born to British parents through surrogacy in India are born ‘stateless’ – they have no nationality anywhere in the world – because of the mismatched laws on parenthood. British parents have to apply to the Home Office for their child to be registered as a British citizen on a discretionary basis. Since the process takes many months, parents must routinely be prepared for a long stay in a foreign country with their newborn child. ....Read more of this article Article: 7th June by Natalie Gamble Associates

IVF has higher risk of complications and multiple births

A recent report states that there is a higher risk of complications and multiple births in pregnancies that result from IVF techniques. A report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said there were increased risks of premature births, low birth weight and congenital abnormalities. However, it said the vast majority of IVF children were as healthy as other children. IVF accounts for over 1% of UK births. Advances in fertility research have allowed more infertile couples to have children and at an older age. Risks The Royal College's Scientific Advisory Committee reviewed the risks of IVF, which it said were directly related to the number of foetuses and that IVF techniques appeared to double the risk of twins. It said: "About one in four of all IVF pregnancies result in a multiple birth in the UK owing to the common practice of replacing two or three embryos." It also said there was a 23% increased risk of a premature birth, but the risk remained low. "IVF pregnancies still demonstrate an increased risk of low birth weight," it said. Heart defects, cleft lips and other congenital anomalies are also more common. It said around 5% of all babies were diagnosed with an abnormality, but IVF babies were around a third more likely to have a problem. Long term Later in life, the report said there were no differences in brain, language or behavioural development and there "appears to be little impact at age 12". Prof Jenny Kurinczuk, director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, said: "IVF pregnancies carry an increased risk of poor birth outcomes and complications. Nevertheless the majority of the children born following IVF will have a good outcome just like any other children. "The poor birth outcomes and complications may be a combination of treatment and underlying features of the couple such as older maternal age. However, treatment strategies can be altered to improve outcomes such as the adoption of elective single embryo transfer." Read more about alternatives to IVF such as home insemination and the Duo-fertility monitor which is as effective as one cycle of IVF after 6 months of use. Article: 6th June www.bbc.co.uk

What it is really like in a Fertility Clinic

I have just finished a photo shoot, something else I have never done before, but recently accepted as part of my "self awareness/maturing" process. With my hair done and makeup still on, sporting high heels and a smart dress, I ascend to the 10th floor of a Manhattan high-rise in a desirable neighborhood to the lobby of fertility heaven. My first shock comes when I notice that the majority of the patients in the waiting room have their partner with them. I'm handed a questionnaire that everyone else seems to have filled out at home. I stare at it, thinking to myself that I have no time to answer the endless questions that would require the presence of my husband. The thought crosses my mind that my husband barely remembers I'm doing this... he's somewhere on the other side of the world. I can't even reach him via phone. I remind myself that priorities in here are quite basic: If you want a child, than everything else can wait... I look around and I am aware of not exactly fitting the profile of the average person in the room. I have my wedding band and my engagement ring on. I look young, wealthy, calm and healthy, but I do not have my husband next to me and I'm leaving half of the questionnaire blank. The room is full of couples, mainly Jewish Orthodox ones, and single Asian women and young caucasian men. It's likely some of the single men and women are donors, I think, while the others are couples eager to have children. There are no light magazines to read like when you go to a nail salon, and the waiting area is quite crowded. Desperate to distract myself, I find a pamphlet on single motherhood that covers everything from adoption to IVF with donor sperm, but as a married woman, only half of it really applies to me. I find another pamphlet on fertility yoga. I don't think I have fertility problem for now, but until I go through all of the exams ahead, who knows? I pick up another one on the services offered by the center for couples dealing with infertility but this, too, doesn't necessarily apply to me... I realize how little I know about what's going on in my body. Am I fertile? Will I need to go through the extensive treatments described in the pamphlets that surround me? I feel like none of them speak to my situation. For now, I'm a "special" case, a new breed of woman... in a relationship and likely fertile, but freezing my eggs until the time feels right to have children. I'm not ready to be a mother, but I do not want to wake up one day and regret having played or let someone else play with my right to motherhood. Someone calls my name and I rise to meet her. Article: May 2012 www.huffingtonpost.com

American pro gay ad released for Father's Day

Partly in celebration of Father’s Day, and partly in response to the criticisms it received for releasing a pro-gay ad featuring a lesbian couple, the US clothing retailer JC Penney has released another pro-gay ad, this time featuring two dads. JC Penney has been under fire from the anti-gay group One Million Moms, whose actual membership is estimated to be around 40,000 at best, twice before: first for hiring comedienne Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson, then for releasing an ad featuring a lesbian couple as mothers of two children. As it happened, almost 22,500 people signed a GLAAD-initiated petition to thank the retailer for its pro-gay stance, nor did the pro-gay ad, published towards Mother’s Day, affect JC Penney’s sales or reputation. Now, as if in direct reply to these criticisms, JC Penney has released an ad for Father’s Day, featuring a real life gay male couple, Todd Koch and Cooper Smith, with their children Claire and Mason. The accompanying text reads: ’First Pals – What makes Dad so cool? He’s the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver – all rolled into one. Or two.’ One Million Moms has predictably moved to criticise the retailer, for allegedly ‘continuing down the same path of promoting sin in their advertisements.’ Repeating the same warning as last time, it warns JC Penney to remain neutral in ‘the culture war,’ lest its members and their supporters boycott the retailer altogether. ‘We must remain diligent and stand up for Biblical values and truth,’ the group’s website declares, echoing its recent criticisms of gay story-lines in comic-scripts. ‘Scripture says multiple times that homosexuality is wrong, and God will not tolerate this sinful nature.’ JC Penney has reiterated its position that it is a store for all Americans, and in reflecting the diversity of the country, would naturally include gay fathers in its collection. Article: 3rd June 2012 www.pinknews.co.uk

Surrogacy in India - what's the law for parents from the UK?

Following prominent Indian surrogacy stories in the Telegraph and Evening Standard, Natalie was interviewed on BBC Radio this afternoon to explain the law. In the absence of regulation, a commercial surrogacy industry in India has boomed over the last few years, with many Indian fertility clinics now offering surrogacy packages to foreign intended parents at a cost of around £20,000. Indian law allows intended parents to enter into a binding contract with a surrogate mother, and Indian officials register the intended parents on the Indian birth certificate. But the law is not as simple as it seems if you are a British parent. For UK legal purposes, the parents of a child born through surrogacy are the surrogate mother and, if she is married, her husband. Regardless of what the Indian birth certificate says, you will not be recognised as parents and this means that your child may well be born ’stateless’ without any right to a passport anywhere in the world. You will also have no status as the parents of your child when you come back to the UK. There are solutions – a discretionary application to the British High Commission to give a British passport, and an application to the family court for a parental order which ultimately gives a British birth certificate. However, it is important to be well prepared, and to be very careful about the ethics and safety of what you are doing, given the lack of regulation in India. Despite the sudden media coverage, none of these issues are new. In a landmark case Re X and Y in 2008, the High Court warned of the dangers of international surrogacy after twins born through a Ukrainian surrogacy arrangement were born ‘marooned stateless and parentless’ by the conflict between UK and Ukrainian law. This was the very first UK case to ratify a foreign surrogacy arrangement, and it has been followed by many others over the past four years. Exactly the same issues apply in Indian surrogacy cases, of which we have dealt with many. No parental orders have yet been refused, although the court does look at every situation carefully to ensure there is no exploitation and to protect the welfare of the child. You can find out more from our website about international surrogacy law