Ontario Experts Recommend IVF for All Except Women Over 42

The expert panel recommended IVF for all including same-sex couples and singles, but not for women over the age of 42. I have a friend who is 42 years old and pregnant (yes, naturally) and we all know a friend or a friend of a friend who got pregnant at 42 or older so why would the Canadian panel pick that age?

It's simple, really. Egg donation is virtually non-existent in Canada because egg donors cannot be paid and they cannot be anonymous. That makes it very difficult for women to find a donor in their own country. And IVF is funded by the national health care system so the chances of IVF working for a 42 year old woman are not great.

I can hear you now: what about the women in their 40s who are in excellent health? They work out, take great care of themselves and look 10 years younger. It doesn't matter with eggs. Forty-two-year-old eggs are old, especially when you compare them to a 22 year old woman. It doesn't matter how many lunges you do.

What say you?

So, What About Michael Jackson's Kids?

I thought since this issue was all over the web in the last couple of weeks that most people understood the issues involved, but just last week a neighbor came up to me and asked me that very question: So, what about Michael Jackson's kids?. I knew where he was going so I replied, just as I did for Tamera H. Bennett at her blog, Bennett Law Office, that in California, it doesn't matter if Michael used a sperm donor an egg donor and a surrogate for all of his children. Intent controls in California and as long as he had the intent to parent, and the third parties did not, he is the father. Of course, he would also have a judgment of parentage, signed and certified by the court, but my neighbor was satisfied with my response so he moved on to his next question.

What about Rowe?

Now, that's entirely different, as she is the legal mother of his two older children, Prince and Paris. Her name is on the birth certificate and remains so, so under CA law, she could have visitation and custody rights to them. The hearing is scheduled for July 20 and I will be following the case closely.

I do hope the judge who hears the matter takes into consideration the fact that the youngest child, Blanket, has never been separated from his two older siblings and to tear them apart when they have lost their father and the only home they have known, would, in my opinion, be very detrimental.

What do you think?

Children of Sperm and Egg Donors Seek Information

An article by Cheryl Miller posted today at www.reason.com raised questions on how the information should be handled, by whom and how much. In "Who's Your Daddy?" Cheryl discusses the plight of one young woman who has a rare stomach disorder. She is in her 20s when records were either destroyed or not kept at all. All she knows is that the sperm donor is of Scandinavian descent. She doesn't want to meet him, but she would desperately like medical information.

Today, most agencies and IVF centers that have their own in-house donor program keep detailed medical and biographical information on their donors. However, the industry is pressing for a national donor registry. I am a member of the American Bar Association's section on Reproduction and the Law and I can tell you that at the last meeting this issue was discussed. It is not going to go away, but I do believe that rather than have the government control and run it, those in the industry should create and control the registry, as the article proposed, with a board of directors as well as guidelines.

If not, we could have a situation like the UK, where couples wait two years, or longer, for a sperm or egg donor because donors cannot receive compensation and cannot be anonymous. One UK woman was able to work with a donor from the United States, but only on apeal from the government and only because her husband has ties to the United States.

I encourage you to read the article as it is in-depth, well-researched and proposes some solutions to this issue.

Parents Via Egg Donation or, “Marna’s Friends”

Marna Gatlin is without doubt a wonderful woman who generously gives her time for something she feels passionately about: egg donation. Because of her passion and devotion to the group she now runs, Parents Via Egg Donation, she was featured in today’s The Oregonian.

I met her this past fall in San Francisco at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and she was every bit the woman I imagined her to be: supportive, caring, bright, passionate and compassionate. Her organization is not affiliated with any agency, including this one, and she and her organization are a wealth of information for those going through egg donation, no matter where you are in the process.

I tried an egg donation cycle (which failed because I needed a surrogate not a donor, but that’s a whole other story) and I remember going through the transfer conflicted about what to tell the child if he or she was born. My cycle was in 1999 and there was nowhere I could turn to for support or guidance, just like Marna. Now men and woman have an organization and a support system for their many questions and concerns — and a shoulder to cry on when they learn the news that they will need a donor to have their child.

If you are going through egg donation or even if you have already gone through the process, I encourage you to seek out Marna and become one of her friends at Parents Via Egg Donation.

Economic Turmoil Fuels India's Fertility Business

I recently posted about how patients are canceling their IVF appointments for surrogacy and egg donation in India because of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but apparently that has not stopped the booming industry in India. In fact, with many women and men getting laid off from their well paying jobs, more educated women than ever before are becoming surrogates and egg donors.

In fact, one woman in the article was at the pharmacy looking to buy poison to kill herself because of her family's desperate financial situation when she saw an advertisement for egg donors. She applied, was accepted and is now receiving income for helping infertile couples who could not have a genetic child without her help. Another woman's husband was laid off and she knew it would be incredibly difficult for her to find employment, so she applied to become a surrogate and is now hoping to become pregnant for an American woman.

I do believe that India is not taking away the surrogacy business from any agency or attorney in this country. Those couples or individuals who are going to India would not have used a surrogate or an egg donor in the United States because they simply cannot afford it. For them, the United States was never an option.

Egg Donors and the Economy

CNN recently ran a piece on egg donors and the economy, Egg Donors on the Rise, as did the Wall Street Journal, Ova Time: Women Line Up To Donate Eggs — for Money and I want to make it perfectly clear that while there is an increase in women applying to become donors, there is not an increase in Extraordinary Conceptions' donors donating their eggs. In fact, most women who apply to become a donor do NOT ever become one. While both those pieces were accurate, they left out a very important part of becoming a donor and that is the rigorous screening process.

A donor in Extraordinary Conceptions' program first must complete a detailed, lengthy application. Most donors never finish it. After their application is complete, their background is checked. If the young woman passes this step, they next meet with the donor program staff who reviews the process with them (self-injecting hormones for 2 to 5 weeks and a medical procedure) and the restrictions placed on them: no smoking, drinking, recreational drugs, and sex. At this point, women who are not serious about the process drop out of the program.

They next must complete an additional detailed medical questionnaire. Remember, these are young women who are either attending school or working or both. These women are busy so only the women who are serious about the process complete this step.

After the donor is is selected by a recipient, they meet with that person’s IVF physician wherever he or she is located, having their blood drawn for the required FDA screening, undergoing a vaginal ultrasound and meeting with the doctor who explains in detail the procedure and the risks involved. Again, the physician wants to make sure that the young woman understands what is required of her.

The donor undergoes another background check as well as a psychological screening. The psychologist wants to make sure that the donor is not emotionally attached to her eggs and has no history of drug or alcohol abuse in her family and that she is stable and well-adjusted.

Some programs do not require this, but Extraordinary Conceptions' program donors meet with an attorney who reviews the legal contract with them, explaining their rights, responsibilities and duties under the contract. The contract makes very clear that the donor does not and will not have any parental rights to any child conceived as a result of the egg donation procedure.

After all these steps are completed, the donor can now wait to start the egg donation process! She checks her calendar for the day she must state her injectable medication and when her medical appointments will be. During this time, she needs to take multiple injectable medications and attend doctor visits where she will have her blood drawn and have a vaginal ultrasound. And, not all donors will get to the egg retrieval day, since some donors do not respond well to the medication and their cycles must be cancelled.

So, if all goes well, the donor will have her eggs retrieved and receive the majority of her fee. As you can see, this is a lengthy and detailed process. It is not like these women can drive to the clinic, drop off a few “ova” and walk away with a check in hand. It takes commitment, patience, and hard work.

In Today's Wall Street Journal: Women Line Up To Donate Eggs -- for Money

Extraordinary Conceptions has seen an increase in both Donors and Surrogates applying in the past few months too. It is not surprising, since the economy is not doing well and it is tougher for these women to find work. But, no matter what is going on financially, both Donors and Surrogates still have to qualify and follow strict guidelines, including no smoking, drinking and sex and injecting themselves with medication for weeks -- and in the surrogate's case, months if she gets pregnant. Both Donors and surrogates also go through a medical screening, a psychological examination, background checks and a legal contract review.

As you can see it, it is work, but work that can be so rewarding. The link below will take you to the WSJ article on Women Donating their eggs for money: http://tinyurl.com/6nvyrv

Women Exposed to Secondhand Smoke Likely to Have Fertility Problems

Women who are exposed to secondhand smoke either as children or as adults are 68 percent more likely to have fertility problems, including miscarriages. I’m astounded by that figure. I know from speaking to embryologists that they can tell from looking at an embryo if the intended mother or egg donor smoked, but I had no idea the impact that secondhand smoke has on a woman’s future fertility.

This could be devastating news to the women who never smoked but had a parent or parents who smoked in the house where they grew up. Those women had no control over their exposure and their fertility may already be compromised. We can only hope that what comes from this study is more research on how to help all women and men who suffer from infertility.

The link to the full article on secondhand smoke and fertility: http://tinyurl.com/5k3bua