In New Zealand one couple per week heads overseas for a baby

In the United States a woman can be paid for her time and effort to donate her eggs or to carry someone else's baby. That is not so in most parts of the world, where paying a woman for her work (and make no mistake about it, it's work) is illegal. That is exactly what Mellany and Simon have had to do as they live in New Zealand, where paying a woman for her services to donate her eggs is illegal. As a result, there are very few women who will donate for altruistic reasons, so many couples are forced to go abroad.

Can you imagine traveling to a foreign country to have your family? If you are from New Zealand at least you do not have to deal with the language barrier if you come to the US, but what about those from Spain? France?

Mellany and Simon have been trying for eight years and they say:

Nothing would be too great to realise the dream....You just expect that you're going to get older get married have a family and live happily ever after.

I was fortunate enough to only have to travel to another state where my children were born via surrogacy so I have great compassion for those who come halfway around the world to become a family.

However, bioethicist Professor Gareth Jones says:

Do we want to have markets of buying and selling for not only human tissue but also children, or babies? I think there are issues involved here ethically.

What say you? As always feel free to comment below.

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