US bill to give equal rights for same-sex couples accessing fertility treatment

SAN FRANCISCO — California Governor Jerry Brown (D) on Friday signed a bill to ensure that women in same-sex relationships and single women can access fertility services on the same terms as women in opposite-sex relationships. Assembly Bill 2356, authored by Assembly member Nancy Skinner and co-sponsored by Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), allows women using known donors to access certain fertility procedures that are less expensive and more effective. “Women’s issues once again are at the forefront of national debate. AB 2356 ensures that all women have equal access to fertility services,” said Skinner. “I am grateful Governor Brown signed legislation that will eliminate barriers LGBT and single women confront when seeking to conceive.” “The decisions regarding building a family are a core freedom in California. Same-sex couples have faced many barriers in forming families, including unequal access to fertility healthcare,” said Clarissa Filgioun, Equality California Board President. “This unequal treatment has, heartbreakingly, denied many couples the opportunity to conceive a child of their own. Signing AB 2356 works to remedy that disparity, putting the joy of having a child and building a family within the reach of all loving families,” said Filgioun. With this signing, women who seek fertility services with a known donor who is not their partner are no longer subject to time-consuming and costly repeat testing that decreases the chance of successful conception. Now women who have unsuccessfully attempted to conceive at home with a known donor have access the same fertility services available to different-sex couples. “This law allows doctors and providers to provide services that are currently only available to different-sex couples to people using known donors,” said NCLR Family Protection Project Director Cathy Sakimura. “Many intended parents who would not otherwise be able to afford any fertility services will be able to access safer and more effective procedures under this new law. We applaud the Governor and the Legislature for recognizing that same-sex couples, transgender people, and single women should have equal access to fertility services,” said Sakimura. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2013. Meanwhile, Brown has not yet taken action on a bill passed August 30 that would prohibit “ex-gay” reparative therapy for minors — he has until midnight on Sunday to sign it. Article: 28th September 2012 www.lgbtqnation.com

Danish sperm donor passes on severe genetic disease to five children

A Danish sperm donor passed a severe genetic disorder to five children after tests did not detect it and the fertilisation clinic failed to act on evidence that a baby had been diagnosed with the illness. The man, known only as "donor 7042", fathered 43 children, in breach of rules limiting the number to 25, after giving sperm to Copenhagen's Nordisk Cryobank clinic. But as well as fertilising the clinic's clients, the donor was also transmitting the tumour-producing nerve disorder known as Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) or Von Recklinghausen's disease. Parents are considering legal action after it emerged that the sperm bank was told in June 2009 that one of the children born to the donor had been diagnosed with the genetic illness but failed to act. "Our team of physicians and our geneticist looked at the case but didn't consider there to be reason enough to suspect it was the donor and therefore no reason to stop the use of his sperm," said Peter Bower, the clinic's director, according to TheLocal.se website. NF1 is a genetic disorder that causes tumours to grow around nerves, with symptoms including, high blood pressure, bone deformity, scoliosis, learning difficulties and eye problems including tumours on the optic nerve. Anne-Marie Vangsted, the head of the Danish Health and Medicines Authority, has criticised Nordisk Cryobank for failing to withdraw the sperm when it first became aware of the problem. Among the 43 children fathered by "donor 7042" are 18 children in Sweden and Norway. Karianne Vedin, a Norwegian mother whose child was fathered using the donor's sperm, is considering legal action after being informed by post that the donor was carrying a hereditary disease and that their daughter was at risk of inheriting it. "Luckily she is one of the healthy ones, but I feel very sad for those that have been affected by this," she told the Norwegian national broadcaster NRK. "We want to reveal the truth behind the whole system. They are just after the money. It's obvious when you see how many times this donor was used. We do not want this to happen to anyone else." Under new rules that will apply from next week, the Danish health authorities have limited the use of sperm from a single donor to 12 pregnancies with an immediate ban if any donor is suspected of having passed on a genetic disorder. Article: 25th September 2012 www.telegraph.co.uk

High court challenge to change maternity leave rights for surrogacy families

A joint claim has been lodged at the High Court challenging the lack of maternity leave rights for families through surrogacy. Surrogacy UK and a mother directly affected are together seeking a declaration from the High Court that the current law is unfair. The issue is that UK parents who have a child with the help of a surrogate mother do not have rights to time off work to care for their new child, while parents who give birth or who adopt do. As a result, the mother bringing the claim (known only as RKA) was denied maternity leave rights by her employer to care for her newborn child, and was then made redundant while on unpaid leave. Surrogacy UK, which has brought the claim together with her in its capacity as a leading representative of many UK families, says: “We’ve made this claim as the leading surrogacy organisation in the UK, reflecting our responsibility to promote and protect the interests of our members and all others involved in surrogacy. Put simply, there can be no reason to treat parents of children born via surrogacy any differently from any other parent looking after a new-born. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that all parents have rights to a family life and the best possible start for their child.” Merry Varney from law firm Leigh Day & Co, who is representing RKA and Surrogacy UK, says: “The Government has a positive obligation under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act to protect surrogate parents to ensure respect for their private and family life and a positive obligation under Article 14 to avoid discrimination.” The anomaly which denies maternity leave was raised in Parliament earlier this year, when John Healey MP called for equal maternity leave rights for mothers through surrogacy. His constituent Jane Kassim had also been denied maternity leave after her cousin Amy carried her and husband’s twins (read more about what he said here). With the Department of Business Innovation and Skills currently reviewing the law on maternity rights, there is an opportunity to address the problem. While surrogacy was historically a rare phenomenon which only affected a tiny handful of families, that is no longer the case. The numbers of parental orders (the orders which make parents through surrogacy the legal parents) stood at 138 last year, up from 58 just two years ago. We at Natalie Gamble Associates have been campaigning to end discrimination against surrogate families for many years. As well as the employment law issues, other problems arise from the fact that it takes so long (often up to a year after the birth) for the parents to win legal recognition. There can be problems with medical consent, not to mention severe difficulties over immigration where children are born through surrogacy abroad. There is also no proper regulation of surrogacy services in the UK, while surrogacy thrives as an industry in many places abroad, driving more and more parents to go abroad. Surrogacy law in the UK desperately needs updating and we hope dealing with the employment discrimination will be just the first step.

IVF clinic in Nottingham offers free Chromosome screening

A CITY fertility clinic is inviting prospective IVF patients to join a clinical trial to have their embryos screened free of charge for abnormalities. Care Fertility has pioneered the of egg and embryo screening, called Array CGH. The aim of the study is to test whether transferring normal embryos significantly increases pregnancy and live birth rates in younger women undergoing IVF for the first time. People who take part must meet a number of criteria: - Female age less than 35 - Male and female BMI less than 35 - No previous IVF treatment - No history of miscarriage - Normal sperm count Patients can apply online to join the trial. If accepted they will undergo an IVF cycle, paying only for their IVF treatment and drugs. Chromosome screening, normally costing £2,435, will be free of charge. Managing director Dr Simon Fishel said: "My personal goal for our patients is to improve the chances of conceiving a healthy embryo and a healthy baby in the first attempt at IVF." Article: www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

Gay and Lesbian co-parenting - Do we need more legal recognition?

Invitation to Participate in an Exciting New Study Researchers at the University of Exeter are conducting research into what the study calls ‘platonic parenting’ within the LGBT community. ‘Platonic parenting’ is where children are being raised by adults not all of whom are in an intimate relationship. For example, a gay male couple may have a child with a female friend, all three of whom could be involved in raising the child. We are particularly interested in the reasons why people would or would not engage in this type of parenting arrangement and your views on the legal recognition of such families. We are looking for participants to take part in a confidential 45-minute telephone/face-to-face interview to discuss these issues. This project is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and will adhere to strict ethical guidelines. All information from the interviews will be stored anonymously and treated as confidential. Interested in being involved in the research? If so, we’d love you to complete our short survey if you – • are currently raising a child, either as a single person or part of a couple, together with a friend or acquaintance. OR • have ever considered raising a child with a friend or acquaintance. OR • may consider this type of parenting arrangement in the future. We are particularly keen to hear from people parenting in this way within the LGBT community but we encourage anyone who is interested in the research issues to complete the survey. For more information about the study and for a link to the short preliminary survey about you and your family please visit: www.platonicparents.co.uk or e mail Philip Bremner at pdb203@exeter.ac.uk. Thank you! Article: 18th September 2012 www.platonicparents.co.uk

Another successful year at the Alternative Parenting Show

Another successful year at the Alternative Parenting Show 2012. Pride Angel had hundreds of visitors to our stand on Saturday. It was fantastic to be able to get the message out to many more single women and lesbian couples who were considering their options of choosing a known donor or thinking about co-parenting. There were also many single men and gay couples who were seriously considering co-parenting as an option which they previously had not considered would be a feasible option of becoming a parent. For those considering surrogacy many wished to find a known egg donor through Pride Angel, so that they could pass on more information to their child about their genetic origins. We really enjoyed being able to meet people face-to-face at our stand to be able to discuss the different parenting options available and how Pride Angel can help many people achieve their family. Many people at the show asked questions about the following options: • Single men and women wanting to co-parent • Gay couples wanting to co-parent and be hands on fathers • Gay couples wishing to find an egg donor for a surrogacy arrangement • Lesbian couples wanting to choose a known donor who could be part of their child’s life • Women wishing to donate eggs and become an aunty to the child • Women looking for advice on how to conceive using home insemination • Taking a known donor to a fertility clinic, what is the process • What kind of involvement does a known donor really have • How does a donor child feel about their donor father • What health screening tests are required when undertaking insemination at home • What is the legal position when using a known donor or co-parenting Erika co-founder of Pride Angel said ‘It was lovely to get so much positive feedback from people about Pride Angel’ ‘We would love to hear far more feedback from our users to see how they get on along their journey and of course it’s lovely to hear all the success stories’

After donating eggs Louise ironically can't have her own children

Whenever Louise Milano sees a boy aged about 12 in the street, she finds herself staring intently at him, searching his face for any clues that he just might be her biological child — the son she has never met. It is 13 years since Louise, then a vibrant young career woman in the prime of her fertility, donated her eggs to help a couple she didn’t know have a child. Since then, in the bitterest of ironies, all attempts to have children of her own have failed. Louise has spent more than £30,000 on six rounds of failed IVF treatments, and donors have even given their eggs to try to help her become a mother. But at the age of 44, Louise remains childless. She now believes that her dream of cradling her baby in her arms will never be realised. Instead, every year, she is left to ponder one haunting date: September 9, 2000 — the day on which the biological son she has never seen was born. Louise says: ‘I would love him to contact me when he’s grown up. I think of him so often, and when I see a boy of a similar age walking down the street, my heart flips. ‘I think of him on his birthday every year. I imagine him tearing open his presents, hugging his parents and enjoying his party. I wish more than anything that I could see his face on this day, and share some of the joy he’s experiencing. ‘I know he’s loved, and that makes me happy. It’s just that I’d do anything for the chance to experience the happiness of motherhood myself.’ Louise was married and working as a high-flying estate agent when she made the decision to donate her eggs. She had met her husband David at work at the age of 28, and they married two years later, in 1998. The couple settled in Norfolk, where Louise still lives. ‘Neither of us wanted children at the time,’ she says. ‘We were both enjoying our careers and our social life. David’s friend Paul and his wife Catherine became our closest friends, and every weekend we’d do something together. ‘Unlike me, Catherine was then desperate to conceive a child. She’d had two courses of IVF, but both had failed.’ Once, when the two couples were having dinner together, Catherine took Louise aside and asked if she’d be willing to help them have the baby they longed for by donating her eggs. Catherine explained that she needed donor eggs to conceive, but that the NHS waiting list for them was two years long. ‘In those days, strict ethical guidelines from the clinic treating Catherine banned me from giving my eggs directly to a friend,’ says Louise. ‘I could only donate anonymously. ‘Due to these rules there was a shortage, and to encourage women to donate, the clinic had devised a scheme whereby friends could donate to other women on the waiting list. ‘The eggs would be used to help another infertile couple to get pregnant, and in return the clinic would allow Catherine IVF treatment using an anonymous donor. ‘I said “yes” immediately,’ Louise recalls, ‘and Catherine threw her arms around me. I had no maternal yearnings then, but I realised Catherine felt an absolute need for a baby. ‘I thought I had plenty of years for a family of my own, and in the meantime I was happy to help my friend.’ Over the next few weeks, Louise underwent treatment at the fertility unit at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. A course of hormone injections was administered to boost her production of eggs, with side-effects which included bloating and discomfort. Louise says: ‘I cried a lot because of the hormones I was given, but I didn’t regret what I was doing for a single moment. ‘David supported me completely. It was a chance for his best friend to become a dad, so he was equally grateful for what I was doing.’ In November 1999, a surgeon removed 19 of Louise’s eggs, to be shared between two couples undergoing fertility treatment. Louise says: ‘A nurse gave me two cards written by the families I was helping, and each of them was so heartfelt they made me cry. Both women thanked me for giving them the chance to become mothers. They wrote that they could never find the words to express what it meant to them.’ One of the couples failed to conceive, but the other was successful. On September 9, 2000, Louise received a phone call from a nurse at St Barts telling her that a baby boy had just been born, conceived from an egg Louise had donated. The nurse wasn’t able to give her any further details, and it was only when Louise put the phone down that the full implications of what she had done sunk in. ‘Until then, egg donation had been something clinical and practical — a means to help a dear friend,’ she says. ‘But suddenly I realised I had a biological son I would never meet. It unnerved me, but at the same time I was delighted for his parents. The nurse wasn’t able to give her any further details, and it was only when Louise put the phone down that the full implications of what she had done sunk in ‘I told myself that one day, when the time was right, I’d become a mother too.’ Within a couple of months, there was more good news. Catherine fell pregnant with twins conceived from donor eggs as part of the scheme that Louise had agreed to. Louise says: ‘When she rang to tell me, I cried with joy. I went with Catherine to her scans, and when her twins were born in December 2001, I was one of the first people to see them. ‘Cradling one of the tiny babies in my arms, I felt a new emotion. For the first time I felt a yearning to hold a child of my own. I thought “This will be me one day”. ‘Seeing Catherine’s joy, and the ease and love she showed with her son and daughter, made everything worthwhile. ‘She and Paul chose me as godmother, and I shared with them the delight of the twins’ first smiles, their first words and their first steps.’ But Louise’s joy in her role as godmother masked the pain of the collapse of her marriage. David had started his own computer business, but long hours and stress drove the couple apart. In August 2002, Louise’s marriage ended. She says: ‘I was single again. But now I didn’t just want to fall in love, I wanted a baby of my own, too.’ Then in June 2003, tragedy struck when Catherine was rushed to hospital with meningitis and died soon afterwards. ‘It was the most ghastly loss of my life,’ says Louise.The children are now being brought up by their father, and Louise still sees them regularly. Two years later, as she was coming to terms with the death of her friend, Louise found love again — with Alex, a 29-year-old building contractor. She was 38 by then but unconcerned by the age gap. She and Alex fell in love, and immediately started trying for a baby. ‘I’d produced 19 healthy eggs at the age of 31, so I didn’t for one second believe that we’d have any trouble conceiving,’ she says. ‘But every month, when I discovered I wasn’t pregnant, I felt the same sickening disappointment.’ Gradually this disappointment became a gnawing fear, and by April 2008, when she was 40 and still hadn’t become pregnant, Louise went to see her GP about IVF. ‘He told me: “I’m sorry, we don’t give IVF to women aged 40 and over.” To be honest, it felt like a slap in the face. ‘I’d helped out the NHS as an egg donor, and granted the gift of life to another woman. Now, when I desperately wanted a baby of my own, the NHS wouldn’t help me in return. ‘They were happy to exploit my fertility when I was young, but now that I wasn’t so fertile, doors were suddenly slamming in my face.’ Louise’s only option was expensive private fertility treatment. She and Alex spent £7,500 of their savings on a course of IVF at a clinic in Cambridge. Once more, drugs were used to stimulate Louise’s ovaries. Three eggs were harvested, then mixed with Alex’s sperm. There then followed a two-day wait to see how many eggs had fertilised. Louise says: ‘I firmly believed that IVF brought about happy endings. There was no doubt in my mind that this would work, and Alex and I would soon be decorating a nursery for our own baby. ‘Instead, the consultant rang and said: “I’m afraid none of your eggs has fertilised.” The shock left me reeling. He then suggested I consider using donor eggs. ‘I felt cheated. At that moment, my dreams of holding my own biological child ended. It was an irony so bitter that it made me feel physically sick. ‘I realised how devastated the women I had helped must have felt when they learned that their fate lay with anonymous donors.’ But then, happily, Louise’s younger sister, Helen, 30, offered to donate her eggs. This time, direct donation was possible. ‘I was overcome with gratitude,’ says Louise. ‘It was as if I’d been given another chance of motherhood, and I couldn’t thank Helen enough.’ Louise remortgaged her three-bedroom house to pay the £8,500 for private fertility treatment. Helen’s eggs were harvested and mixed with Alex’s sperm, and this time nine eggs were fertilised. Louise says: ‘I actually screamed when they rang me with the news!’ Two of the embryos were put into Louise’s womb. She says: ‘Two weeks later, I did a pregnancy test at home and watched as a positive line appeared. ‘I’ll remember that feeling for the rest of my days — it was the happiest moment of my life. ‘But a week later I began to bleed heavily and was rushed to hospital, where a scan revealed that I had lost my baby. I was distraught, but still determined not to give up.’ Two eggs from the previous batch of nine remained, so Louise remortgaged her home again to fund another round of treatment. Sadly, neither of the two embryos resulted in pregnancy. As Louise’s dream of motherhood crumbled, so too did her relationship with Alex. ‘The fertility treatment tore us apart,’ she says. ‘Alex loved me and wanted to see me happy, but I was obsessed with IVF. ‘We had no money for holidays or to enjoy life. Getting pregnant was my sole driving force, which killed the passion and the romance and the love between us. As a result of the incredible strain, we split up.’ ‘We had no money for holidays or to enjoy life. Getting pregnant was my sole driving force, which killed the passion and the romance and the love between us. As a result of the incredible strain, we split up.’ Louise was again alone, but still resolute in her desire to become a mum. She says: ‘I thought of the little boy I had helped to conceive, and the fact that he was out there somewhere made me all the more determined not to give up.’ In June 2011, Louise flew to Greece for IVF treatment with donor eggs and sperm at a cost of nearly £2,000. But the treatment failed, as did three further IVF attempts. To date, she has undergone six IVF treatments costing more than £30,000. She remains single, and admits she is still struggling to come to terms with the huge financial and emotional price she has paid for her dream. ‘I don’t regret donating my eggs when I was 31, but I wish the NHS would point out to young career girls eager to help others that one day their own fertility might be in jeopardy. ‘If I’d had the chance to freeze my own fertilised eggs, I might have had the opportunity to become a mother myself. ‘I work as an ambulance emergency call centre operator now, and it can be tough. A few months ago, for example, I heard a baby being born on the other end of the phone. ‘I heard his first cry and his mother’s sobs of delight, and I had to gulp back my own tears.’ Louise is now considering adoption, having realised that despite her long-held dreams she is unlikely ever to have a child of her own. ‘All I want is to hold my own baby, and feel a little hand slipping into mine, or to hear a sweet voice call me “Mummy”,’ she says. Meanwhile, she’s hoping that the boy born from her donated egg will one day trace her. ‘I’m not allowed to look for him — but I’d love to meet him and hold him in my arms,’ she says. Article: 13th September 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk

Going to the Alternative Parenting Show?

Zodiak Media and RDF Television (the producers of Secret Millionaire) are looking for people to interview about their experiences of co-parenting at the Alternative Parenting Show. Saturday 15th September Grand Connaught Room Covent Garden 9:30am-5:30pm My name is Simon and I’m currently researching and developing a brand new television programme based around the concept of co-parenting for a major terrestrial broadcaster. We’re in the very early stages of development but would really like to speak to anyone who is considering or is in the process of becoming a co-parent. We’d love to speak to you on camera about your experiences, and the footage that we shoot will be used for internal pitching purposes only and will not be broadcast on television – so, no need to be shy! It will just be a relaxed 20 minute chat about your experiences, plans, and hopes for the future. We hope that the programme will help raise awareness and educate people about co-parenting and alternative forms of parenting. We’re really passionate about this project and would love to meet some of you at the Alternative Parenting Show on the 15th of September to talk further. If you’re interested in getting involved or would like to know more, then please just drop me a line at: simon.crossley@zodiakmedia.com or contact Pride Angel for more information. Article: 11th September 2012 by Simon at Zodiak Media and RDF Television

Ellen DeGeneres denies Sperm Donor Rumors

Rumors have been circulating that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi want a baby and to start a family together. DeGeneres recently shot down those rumors, insisting that the couple aren’t planning on kids, indeed, that they don’t even want them. DeGeneres appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on September 6 and was asked by host Jay Leno about the ongoing rumor that she is looking for a sperm donor in order to start a family with Portia De Rossi. The 54-year-old daytime talk show host denied the speculation with her usual deadpanning manner. “I heard you and Portia are having a baby,” said Leno. “Is this true?” “I’m here for your sperm,” DeGeneres joked. “That is not true. I don’t know why people want this. I’ve said it so many times: We are not going to have a child. And they say that we’re looking for the right donor. Although, you would be a good donor, so I’ll keep it in mind, just in case. I mean, it would have beautiful blue eyes, and a good sense of humor and a good shot at a NBC show. We would do well.” DeGeneres and De Rossi were married in their home in the summer of 2008 in the brief window of time during which same-sex marriage was legal in California. DeGeneres insisted that she has no problem with kids; she just doesn’t particularly want them herself. “I don’t want to have one. I don’t want to have six. I don’t want to have any,” DeGeneres said. “They’re precious to look at and I love them; we have nieces and I love them very much … don’t want ‘em.” DeGeneres has battled baby speculation before, notes MSN Wonderwall, joking in her 2011 book Seriously… I’m Kidding that she couldn’t have kids because “there is far too much glass in our house.” Do you think that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi would be good parents if they ultimately decided to pursue a family? Article:7th September 2012 www.inquisitr.com

Helping someone become a mum - An Egg Donor's Diary

UNTIL last April women wanting to donate eggs to help childless couples couldn’t be paid and could only be given a maximum of £250 “expenses”. In other countries including America and Spain, clinics and individuals could receive much more cash. To beat an egg donor shortage, British women can now be paid £750. Last month Danielle Pearson, 29, became one of the first to donate since the payment was introduced. But she says she wasn’t doing it for the money. Here, Danielle, a customer services rep who lives in Taunton, Somerset, with husband Tom, 27, and their son Harry, two, shares her diary in the hope of inspiring others to do the same. May 2011: I’ve read a report about the woeful shortage of egg donors in the UK, which has shocked me. All I can think is how lucky I am to have my gorgeous son Harry and how I’d love to help a woman who isn’t so fortunate. Last night, I blurted out my feelings to Tom, asking him if he minded if I became an egg donor. I think he was a bit taken aback at first but when we talked about it he thought it was a great idea. Harry is not yet two, so I’m snowed under with working and looking after him, but as soon as I get more time, I’m definitely going to look into it. June: I’ve been researching egg donation and through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). I find my closest clinic and arrange a meeting. They are incredibly welcoming. I ask how many clients like me they see each year. I’m shocked when they say I’ll probably be the only one this year. Most couples who donate are in an egg-sharing scheme. At present, women in the UK receive no payment, although women in the US can earn up to £15,000 donating their eggs. However, the laws will change next year, allowing women to receive a payment. But money doesn’t matter to me. I could help up to three families, with one fresh batch of my eggs to be used now and the others frozen for future use. July: I’ve decided to go ahead. I’m told any child born as a result of my donation has a right to gain information on me when he or she turns 18. I agree with this. Next is the paperwork, undergoing a medical screening to check for genetic conditions and matching me with a donor. November: The results of my medical screening suggest I may have an underactive thyroid. There will be a second test. January 2012: My results are clear. Tom and I undergo counselling to make sure we’re prepared for the procedure. I have no doubts. I’m excited about what lies ahead. March: I get the call to say I’ve been matched to the woman who will receive my eggs. I’m told to phone the clinic on the first day of my next period so they can synchronise my cycle. May: At the clinic I’m told about the fertility drugs I’ll start taking, which stimulate egg production so more than normal are released and can be harvested. I must start injecting on the 21st day of my cycle. June 27: The fertility drugs arrived in a bag which I need to store in my fridge. I’ve been warned side-effects can include tiredness, dizziness and bloating. I feel no emotional attachment to the process. I’m just helping someone become a mum. I knew I would have to inject myself twice a day but I forgot how big the needles were! I’m worried I may have pushed it too far into my leg the first time as it’s sore and my legs feel funny. June 29: The injections hurt less after a couple of days but this time my leg bled and came up in a big lump. It’s sore for the rest of the day but the list of side-effects says soreness around the site is normal. Tomorrow I’ll aim for a flabbier part of my leg. July 1: My legs are sore and bruised and I’m bloated and have a headache. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. July 3: I’m so bloated I wake up looking four months pregnant. I go to work in leggings and a baggy jumper as my clothes are so tight. Psychologically I’m fine and coping as I hoped. I keep thinking about the recipients of my eggs and how excited they must be. July 5: I’ve got sore nipples and an upset tummy. July 7: It’s day ten of the treatment and I head to the clinic for a scan. The scan shows there are ten eggs on one ovary and six on the other. On the downside, the doctors are worried about how bloated I am and want to make sure I don’t get ovarian hyperstimulation, where fluid builds up in the ovaries. In extreme cases it can be fatal, which is worrying. July 8: I had my last injection today — I won’t miss those! Tomorrow is the big day and I have to be at the hospital for 8am. I go to bed feeling excited, if a little nervous. July 29: I get up at the crack of dawn and have a sip of water and some painkillers as I’m not allowed to eat before the operation. The egg collection will be done under sedation, rather than general anaesthetic, which means I’ll be semi-conscious. Afterwards, all I can recall is the nurse counting eggs as I watched them sucked out on the screen. I felt a bit uncomfortable but there was no pain. Back home I sleep all afternoon and when I wake I can feel a piercing pain in each ovary. I spend the rest of the day on the sofa with lots of cuddles from Harry. I feel happy I’ve done something which could change a woman’s life. August 6: It takes a week to recover. I get mild hyper-stimulation as too much fluid builds up in my ovaries and I have to attend the clinic again. They recommended bed rest, which thankfully does the trick. I receive a cheque in the post for my £750 fee, which I’ll spend on bits and bobs for Harry and put towards mine and Tom’s joint birthday in New York next month. But it was never about money. I’d decided to donate my eggs before I knew the law would be changed. Critics say it’s unethical to pay donors but I think compensation can only be a good thing if it encourages more women to donate their eggs. August 14: In nine months, I will find out if a child was born to the woman I was matched with, while two batches of eggs have been frozen to help two other couples. It excites me to think someone is fulfilling their dreams of having a family thanks to me. The facts about donating eggs Eggs can not be taken from women aged 36 or older. Before you donate, you will have to be screened in order to reduce the risk of passing on diseases or deformities to any child. It is a legal requirement for written consent to be obtained from the egg donor. You can withdraw your consent at any time up to the point at which your eggs are used in treatment. You will receive compensation of up to £750 per cycle of donation to cover any financial losses such as travel, accommodation or childcare. You will have to contact a clinic that is licensed by the HFEA to receive donations. For further information visit hfea.gov.uk Most egg donors are provided anonymously. But children born from a donor sperm, embryos or egg have, at the age of 18, the right to know the identity of the donor. Article: 6th September 2012 www.thesun.co.uk

How much do you want to know about your baby's genetics?

Clare Epstein and her husband opted for genetic tests before trying to conceive a longed-for second child by IVF. But a shocking discovery made them wonder how much knowledge is too much. Our crystal ball was made of spit. One morning a few weeks ago, my husband and I filled two plastic vials with gobs of our DNA, packaged them up with our credit-card details, and posted them off to a hi-tech fortune teller, who would read them like tea leaves to reveal our genetic future. We were doing this at the urging of our doctor, a fertility specialist at the American clinic where we are about to undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to produce a much-longed-for second child. (Our first was made the old-fashioned way, scrambling our genes one night after a Christmas party.) We live in the United States, where genetic testing is commonplace, not just before IVF, but as part of routine medicals, and through direct-to-consumer private companies. As well as adding a new dimension to dinner parties – where hypochondriacs can now regale you not just with their past medical highlights, but their future ones too – it also creates an entirely different culture of medical risk. Before even considering starting an IVF cycle, our doctor strongly urged us to undergo something called the "Jewish panel of tests". It was a name that conjured up my fears about the first Friday night I spent at my future in-laws' house, as they subtly tried to scope out whether I, half Jewish, could possibly be a suitable candidate to marry their beloved elder son. As it turned out, my spit was the perfect means of convincing my husband's family that I was kosher. It revealed that I am a carrier of a rare Jewish genetic disease. Unfortunately, my husband's saliva showed up the exact same gene mutation, a situation that means that any of our offspring, including our 20-month-old son, has a one-in-four chance of being affected by the disorder. The results came through by email, a form letter with scant information about what this might mean in practice. Our doctor at the IVF clinic, while sympathetic, admitted knowing little about the disease, and referred us back to the testing company. Its helpline spiralled me through one perky menu cul-de-sac after another, all of them ending bleakly in voicemail. Unable to locate a human being who might help us to decode our fate, I spent a dark weekend alone with Google, swilling through horror stories with no means of interpretation. Wikipedia informed me that symptoms can start at any time – at worst they can include rapid and complete neurological degeneration and death by early childhood. My universe stopped. By Monday, I was desperate to talk to a medical professional who could help us to understand. I soon realised that in the devolved and highly specialised American healthcare system, in which different branches of medicine are largely disconnected, it was almost impossible to get any answers. Our son's paediatrician had never heard of the disease, and the local children's hospital seemed similarly confused by our request. The genetic-testing company eventually offered us a telephone appointment with its counsellor, but it was brief, and sketchy on the details. As I tried to navigate the bureaucracy, the IVF clinic dangled the option of something called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. For a fee of around $8,000, any embryos we produced could be tested for the offending gene, and affected ones would be destroyed. Further testing could be done in pregnancy. Any rogue foetus that had managed to wriggle through PGD's clutches could, they assured us, be terminated. We jumped at it, desperate to outsmart tragedy. But this sci-fi solution didn't help our existing son, and I was still struggling to find out what all this meant for him. Finally, I managed to track down a specialist in the condition. After a long and detailed conversation with him, suddenly the picture seemed very different. Apparently the disease has many sub-types, but in Ashkenazi Jews with our specific gene mutation, the symptoms are typically mild, do not start until early adulthood, and are virtually 100 per cent treatable with a series of injections. For us, this diagnosis didn't justify the destruction of an otherwise healthy embryo, much less the termination of a much-wanted pregnancy. When the relief started to subside, we felt as though we had been subtly pushed down an expensive and destructive path. Genetic testing, with its inherent promise to predict and control the future, is deeply seductive, and at its best is a powerful tool for bypassing heartache. But the sophistication of the testing available is racing way ahead of the support services on offer to deal with the results, both in practical and ethical terms. There are more than a hundred genetic tests currently in use and their findings are difficult to interpret, even for doctors. As in our case, the prognosis for a given condition can vary wildly depending on specific gene mutations, ethnic background, environment, and a whole host of other factors. Given the complexities involved, it is unrealistic to expect IVF specialists or general physicians to be experts in hundreds of genetic diseases with thousands of variants. We are at a point where we know how to ask the questions, but not what to do with the answers. As the technology starts to allow us to test not just for major life-threatening conditions but for milder, less tragic eventualities, the answers become less black and white, and we enter into the complex territory of amateur eugenics. My husband and I were clear that we would not hesitate to screen out an embryo with a condition that would lead to debilitating pain and death in childhood, but would we screen out a deaf child? A diabetic child? A colour-blind child? Where would we draw the line? The questions have the ring of sixth-form debating-society topics, but we lack the blind adolescent moral certainty of sixth-formers. Our experience with genetic testing somehow cut to the very heart of what it means to be a parent. We are primed to protect our offspring from risk. On neurotic days, when the enormousness of the love I feel for my child hits my solar plexus, I would gladly sign up for a test that could detect and avert his every scraped knee, failed exam and broken heart. But the removal of all hardship in life isn't what makes for happiness. We will not be going ahead with the screening when we start IVF next month. Sometimes in life, we just have to roll the dice. Article: 4th September 2012 www.independent.co.uk

Pride Angel part of the National Donation Strategy Group

The UK’s regulator of fertility treatment, the HFEA, undertook a wide ranging public consultation last year, which looked at the barriers and motivations to egg and sperm donation in the UK. The review uncovered numerous barriers to donation, some which could be removed through regulation and others which could not be as easily tackled. It is these issues which sit outside of traditional regulation that have led the Authority to set up a national strategy group to find new ways of tackling obstacles to sperm and egg donation. The HFEA aims were to use their unique position as the national regulator to bring together a wide range of experts to come up with new approaches to raising awareness of donation and improving the care of donors in the UK. About the group The group will operate over an initial two year period, after which time the terms of the group will be reviewed. The three core objectives of the group will be to: 1. increase awareness of donation and the information that donors receive 2. improve the ‘customer service’ that donors receive when they contact clinics 3. help donors provide better information about themselves for future families The HFEA aims to bring together a group of people with diverse experiences, including non-licensed donation services, people with experience of blood, organ or tissue donation, as well as those with experience of sperm and egg donation. This includes people with interest in the welfare of donors, patients and donor-conceived people. We are pleased to announce that Erika co-founder of Pride Angel has successfully achieved a place on the group. Erika says ‘We are delighted to be part of these consultations whereby we can make a real difference to the future of sperm and egg donation and the effects upon donors, future parents and ultimately the donor conceived children’. We would really like to hear from any donors, future parents or donor conceived to pass on their views to the donation strategy group. Please get in touch with any ideas you may have at info@prideangel.com or contact us. Click here to read the members of the group

Pride Angel at Brighton Pride Saturday 1st September 2012

Tens of thousands of visitors are expected in Brighton and Hove for the city's 20th Pride festival, the first to be run by business leaders. Saturday's parade and ticketed festival in Preston Park is being run by a community interest company appointed by the city council in March. The event was free until 2010 but dogged by money problems and complaints about overcrowding and litter. Alexandra Burke and Fatboy Slim will headline the festival in the park.'Rebuild bridges' Drag entertainer Stephen Richards, who performs as Lola Lasagne, said this year's Brighton and Hove Pride was going back to its roots. "Pride is a celebration of everything we have here," he said. "Over the last couple of years there has been a disconnection from the community and now, with a new organisation at the helm, they have tried to rebuild those bridges to include the entire community - not just businesses but voluntary sectors as well. "The most important thing they did was to promise that £1 from every ticket sold would go to charity and so far over £15,000 has been handed over which is more money than has been given in about 10 years." 'Great showcase' The festival is usually held in August but has been delayed this year to avoid a clash with the London Olympics. The parade, based on the theme the United Colours of Pride, starts at 11:00 BST from Madeira Drive and takes in King's Road, West Street and North Street before travelling up the A23 to Preston Park. St James's Street in the city centre will be closed from 18:00 BST for the Gay Village Party. "Pride is a great showcase for the city and one of the biggest events in the calendar," said Sussex Police Chief Supt Graham Bartlett. "It will be business as usual in the he city centre, although we do expect some temporary disruption to traffic." Police have warned that anyone holding unlicensed events, including on the beach, could face prosecution. Article: 31st August 2012 www.bbc.co.uk