Faith Salie Takes Charge by Freezing Her Eggs

I watched this program yesterday morning and I thought I would pass it along as it is not only useful information, but a very well done piece on egg freezing. Egg freezing is not a guarantee that at a later point you will be able to achieve a pregnancy and have a child, but it offers hope where just a few years ago there was none.

And the night before this aired my husband and I were out to dinner and we met a young woman who had her eggs frozen. Unlike Faith, she only has three so we told her she will need more as it's unlikely that all three will survive the thaw. She agreed and we went on to talk about how great it was that a woman in her 20s had already become proactive about her fertility.

Feel free to comment below!

Media Misses Mark in "Sperm Donor" Paternity Case

Just as I recently post on my Facebook page, Ari Ezra Waldman and others got it wrong in the recent paternity case between Karen B and Daniel H. As Daniele's attorney David Pisarra clears up the misconceptions in his article, Media Misses Mark on Story:

This case turned on one issue, whether or not she knew what she was doing when she signed a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity (VDP). The VDP is a simple, one-page form that is prepared by the hospital when a child is born to unmarried parents. It is written in language a sixth grader can understand. Primarily it is used to lock fathers down to paternity for child support. In California, if you don't contest the document within 60 days, it is considered a judgment for all purposes.

But evidently, if you are a woman, you can wait two years, all the while collecting child support from the presumed father, and then you can change your mind. You can claim that when you signed it, three days after giving birth, that you were too drugged and tired to know what you were signing. Not one woman I have asked about this believes she didn't know what she was doing three days after birth. Categorically their response is, "she knew."

As this case so clearly illustrates, anyone can sue anyone for anything in this country. It doesn't it make it accurate or true. There was a time when the media checked their facts and attempted to get the story straight. It looks like this time was not one of them.

Comments?

USA Today's Who's a family? Study finds shifting views of unmarried, gay couples

This article was posted on Thursday afternoon and while strides have been made in the acceptance of non-traditional families, it is disheartening to see that Americans give more status to families with pets than to gay couples.

It reminds me of a book that I'm currently reading, The Help, which is set in the 1960s during the civil rights era and focuses on African American maids. Needless to say, some of the events in the book were heinous, but is was the daily discrimination, the hurts, the slights, that devastated these women.

It strikes me as odd that anyone would say that being homosexual is a choice. Why would anyone choose to be discriminated in this world? It's hard enough without adding that to your life. My 2 cents.

Feel free to comment below!

Surrogacy for Gay Men – Melbourne Community Forum – 22 May 2010

When: Saturday 22 May 2010 from 10.00 A.M. TO 1:00 P.M.

Many Gay men are now becoming Dads via surrogacy. There are Surrogacy Agencies in the United States, Canada and India all helping Australian Gay men become fathers. Altruistic Surrogacy is also now legal in Victoria and some other states of Australia. This forum with be the fifth held in Melbourne and will be presented by members from Gay Dads Victoria. The free forum will be held in Prahran and provide an opportunity for gay men to find out more about Surrogacy and the options available in Australia and other countries.

Over the years the forum has been the start of the journey to parenthood for many gay men (myself being one of them!). This is a great opportunity for interested gay singles or couples to have some of their questions answered:

- how does surrogacy work
- how do the surrogacy laws work in the US, Canada, India and Australia
- how do I bring my child back in to Australia
- can anyone do it
- how much does it cost

This will also be an opportunity to meet other Surro Dads and Dads to be and learn more about their journeys.

New Jersey Rules for Gestational Carrier

If you follow my tweets (@surrogacylawyer) you know about the Superior Court judge in New Jersey's ruling that the gestational carrier who bore twins for her brother is now their legal mother.

As a follow-up, there is great piece today in the Huffington Post by Jacob M. Appel about this ruling and how New Jersey missed an opportunity to not only move away from the Baby M case and differentiate between traditional and gestational surrogacy, but also to allow women to make the decision if surrogacy is right for them. As Mr Appel says so eloquently, no one argues that men are being degraded or demeaned if they decided to become sperm donors. Why are surrogates any different?

And, if men were able to become surrogates, they would be applauded as entrepreneurs. I agree with Mr. Appel that women are perfectly able to make the decision for themselves and should be allowed to do so in every state, not just California, among others.

What say you?