THE EMOTIONAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF EMBRYO DISPOSITION : SPECIAL EVENT TUESDAY MARCH 20TH

On Tuesday March 20th we will have a special presentation on Embryo Disposition covering the emotional and legal aspects of this important decision-making process. Here is a note from Amy Demma, Esq:
We understand that many who have struggled with infertility and particularly those who have relied on egg donation for family building may, some time later, be dealing with excess embryo disposition. Many feel stuck in their decision making about embryos left-over from previous IVF cycles while others are seeking information about disposition options.

New York Attorney Amy Demma, someone both with personally and professionally experienced with residual embryo disposition will offer information about disposition options both in a legal and practical context.

Anne F Malave, PhD will share with the group the outcome of much research on the emotional aspects of this matter. We intend to offer both information and strategies on making a final decision regarding excess embryos.
I am happy to offer a gratis phone consult. We need to start talking about residual embryos, we need to start getting good information out to those who may be otherwise indecisive about disposition.

This is a dinner event in Midtown with a $10-20 average cost, min $5.
Please contact me directly for more info asap and to confirm your reservation.

Thanks and best to all,

Sara Axel
516-967-7430
http://donorgroupsnyc.blogspot.com/
http://www.meetup.com/New-York-PVED

Landmark case developing in Australia : Millionaire sperm donor in Australia fights for custody of child, ProudParenting.com

Landmark case developing in Australia :
Millionaire sperm donor in Australia fights for custody of child,
ProudParenting.comhttp://www.proudparenting.com/node/16750
Sara Axel
516-967-7430
Saxel95@aol.com

Dr Oz, Eggsploitation, and What I Wore

I stand by everything I said about the film Eggsploitation, almost a year since I saw the film at Fordham and Columbia U Law Schools. I have not seen Anonymous Fathers Day, and I will probably not when it screens on January 29, 2012 in NYC at a Digital Art Gallery. 


I was, however, asked to be part of a special section of 40 people to attend the taping of The Dr Oz Show this past Friday, 12-9-11. The Topic: HOW OLD IS TOO OLD TO HAVE A BABY? I never saw the Dr Oz Show until I attended this taping. I was prepped on the phone and in person the day of the taping on what the questions would be, about being a 50  yr old mom of 7 yr old twins. The producer I spoke to asked for passionate participation and said there would be people on the other side of the argument, but that she never heard of Jennifer Lahl, Eggsploitation, Shark Tank Girl, Family Scholars or Elizabeth Marquardt. Something told me otherwise (maybe the little birdie I tell my kids about, the one that comes to talk to you when you are a mom). 


I was ushered in to the studio after passing several security check points starting at 8:15am, signing the release form, getting the bracelet to wear so I could give up my belongings for 3 hrs to sit without a bathroom break or even to stretch my legs. No water bottles allowed under your seat, they reflect on camera, it was to go until about 12noon.


During the taping, I raised my hand a few times to speak but was never called upon for a direct question or to add to the discussions. I had no book or film to promote, no organization to do PR or cultivate a relationship or free press for, but I did take a vacation day from work for this and I could use my show ticket to receive a 10% discount on merchandise sold at the Studio Store on the main floor of 30 Rock. 


Those that did speak on camera had good sound bytes to share, good points to make about older parenting and even egg donation, for and against, and I enjoyed the discussion from both sides. It was difficult to hear so I did not catch the 2 doctors names that were on the panel of experts, one woman OBGYN who said that women of advanced maternal age, even with the use of Donor Egg, can sometimes present other medical issues and that she would not allow to move ahead with a pregnancy plan or any fertility treatments. The male doctor on the panel, a Reproductive Endocrinologist, explained quite a bit about how a healthy woman in her 40's, most of what he sees in his medical practice, can carry a child to term with donor egg with greater success rates than with her own eggs. The mom in the audience, Kate, who conceived via DE in her 50's confirmed that no matter what the others are called in her family-building journey, these are her kids and she is the mom.


Many times the word "biological" child was used when I believe the distinction of  "genetic" offspring should have been made. For example, one of the first things Jennifer Lahl said about infertility is that she understands the heartbreak and the desire for a biological child of one's own but that basically giving birth via donor conception was NOT your biological child, it was another woman's child. In addition to that, according to Jennifer Lahl, "Not everyone has a right to have a baby." I hope this is not edited out from the taping. She even repeated herself, just to be clear.
Maybe she thinks it isn't anyone's right to have a baby at any age or by any means of medical intervention by any one at all. As you may know by now, she is looking to end all ivf procedures, not just donor. But surely she didn't mean "Not everyone has a right to have a baby." Did she?


Shark Tank Girl stood up to say that she is 5 months PG, that she has been an Egg Donor and is a Donor Offspring herself, here at The Dr Oz Show to say that Anonymous Donor Conception is wrong because it strips the child of their rightful PARENTAL connection to, you guessed it, the Donor. A parent and a donor are not the same thing.


So, WHY is it, that if a Donor wants to be a parent they have to have their own family with a different mate to actually live as a family, but Shark Tank Girl still insists that the donor is part of MY family. Why do other people get to decide what my family wants or needs? Why do people who are actually parents who conceive at the time through a real relationshoip to the child, get to walk in and out of a kids life and are still the parents, even though everyone else might agree that they are not? I do know families like this and that is exactly the point. People get to decide what they want to be a part of or not and no one can force them one way or another. 


If my kids grow up and decide they want another Mother, it will be IN ADDITION to me, not INSTEAD of me, if that other person wants to and not if they don't.


The kids will have to decide for themselves if they love me or not, still want me as their mom or not, if they want to seek out their donor and then accept them as another Mother or not, and so on. We will always be a family of choice, but I would appreciate it very much if you didn't call me/us other names and use language like "The Violent Act of Buying and Selling a Child" with regard to sperm and egg donation, or that donors are "Used And Then Forgotten'', over and over. If you really care about families then why don't you leave alone the ones that exist just fine (and thriving in the same ways and at the same rate as other families in the general population) without you?  


PS-I wore a blue dress and figure that all you'll see of me when the show airs in January is the back of my head, which I really do hope they edit even that part of my participation out of the show. And if you happen to speak to Dr Oz, please tell him that I want my vacation day back! I am just a working mom, after all.

Personhood Ballot Initiative in Mississippi Could Ban Some IVF Practices - The Daily Beast

This is why I occasionally post about Reproductive Freedom. Those that are pro-personhood and anti-ivf are on the same path, leading to the same place as family + marriage-preservationists and defining it on only their terms.


From The Daily Beast, "Should Mississippi's initiative pass, 'it would ban some current practices of IVF,' acknowledges Keith Mason, the 30-year-old president of Personhood USA, an organization pushing for personhood amendments at both the state and federal level: 'The creation of 30 or 60 embryos and then picking through them to see which ones are most likely boys or girls, or basically looking at the ones you want to give life to and destroying the rest.' Eric Webb, an anti-abortion Mississippi ob-gyn and prominent supporter of Amendment 26, has said repeatedly that it will outlaw the freezing of embryos, an important part of the IVF process."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/24/personhood-ballot-initiative-in-mississippi-could-ban-some-ivf-practices.html

Sara Axel
516-967-7430

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Sperm Donation Seems Simple, but Isn't - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

An Excellent Panel for a Debate about Donor Anonymity


Lawlessness Has Had Its Upsides
David Plotz, author and editor of Slate


A Rush to Pass Laws
Jamie Grifo, program director, N.Y.U.
Fertility Center


Restoring the Human Connection
Colton Wooten, writer
Wild West of Fertility


Debora L. Spar, president, Barnard College


Proceed With Caution
Lori Andrews, professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law


Victimizing Gays and Lesbians
Beth Littrell, staff attorney, Lambda Legal


End the Anonymity
Naomi R. Cahn, law professor and Wendy Kramer, Donor Sibling Registry


A Private-Sector Problem
Charles A. Sims, president, California Cryobank


Rules Can Hurt the Vulnerable
Sujatha Jesudason, executive director, Generations Ahead


Start With Some Hard Questions
Robert G. Brzyski, American Society for Reproductive Medicine ethics committee

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/09/13/making-laws-about-making-babies/sperm-donation-seems-simple-but-isnt

'Sextival' promotes sex ed and awareness

I'm LOVIN' IT, in KANSAS!

http://www.kansan.com/news/2011/aug/30/sextival-2011/?news

FROM NYU PRESS : Test Tube Families Why the Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation Naomi R. Cahn

About NYU Press Our Affiliates Jobs Sitemap

Test Tube Families Why the Fertility Market Needs Legal Regulation Naomi R. Cahn   288 pages 1 illustration January, 2009 ISBN: 9780814716823   Introduction Table of Contents   $35.00 Cloth click here for exam copies     “Professor Cahn proposes some useful reforms. Her proposals include legal consistency, particularly over the identity of donor conceived children and the rights of parents; transparency; a requirement to test gametes for serious genetic conditions; the provision of counseling to ‘consumers’; and restrictions on the number of donations by any one donor.” -Bio News “In her historical and contemporary analysis of legal regulation in each of these areas, she weaves erudite yet accessible translations of law, vivid depictions of cases, and personal insights to portray an industry critically in need of oversight.” -New England Journal of Medicine “This thoughtful and compelling book unveils the complexities of the gamete industry . . . Cahn writes in a manner that is engaging, entertaining and, to be honest, transforming.” -Adoption Quarterly “In her careful and detailed analysis, Cahn builds a lawyerly case for comprehensive federal and state laws governing infertility treatment and establishing the legal rights and obligations of everyone involved in the process.” -Bitch Magazine “Cahn’s case for a uniform, federal legal code is compelling and vivid.” -Publishers Weekly “In describing the lengths to which people will go in order to produce a biological child, Cahn is both respectful of this very human desire and sensitive to the ethical and legal issues that result . . . That she also writes in accessible prose makes this a valuable text.” -Choice “Cahn argues that a distinction can be made, albeit very carefully, between reproductive privacy and public-health concerns.” -Peggy Orenstein, The New York Times “I would highly recommend this book as a valuable contribution to the existing literature on donor conception issues. Cahn provides thorough and balanced insights into the paradoxes between the science, the business, the humanity and the legalities of the donor conception industry. This book will be important for those working in the mental health or legal arenas of infertility. For parents, parents-to-be, donors and the donor conceived, this will be a valuable resource for understanding these legal complexities.” -Wendy Kramer, Cofounder and Director of the Donor Sibling Registry "Cahn explores the relationships that underpin artificial reproductive technology: parenting, donating, and becoming (those who are the children brought to life through this process). . . . Much about assisted reproduction are the relationships that are fostered and challenged by the use of the technology, whether donor to potential parent, potential parent to state, surrogate to intended mother, or embryo to clinic, and after it is all ‘done,’ child to parent.” -Michele Goodwin, author of Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts “Cahn’s new book provides a comprehensive critique of the collective practices that gather under the rubric of assisted reproductive technologies. Injecting both professional and personal insights, Cahn’s advocacy for increased regulation and decreased secrecy within the behemoth infertility industry are delivered with empirical assuredness and linguistic eloquence. At last, an informed and erudite look at family formation whose preferred solutions to vexing concerns will have wide appeal in a field not traditionally known for consensus.” -Judith Daar, author of Reproductive Technologies and the Law “A much-needed, thorough, and fair-minded account of the legal history around ART and of the legal way forward for all our evolving families. As our society embraces the opportunities that fertility technology offers, Cahn makes sense of the complex field of issues that emerge and provides a feminist perspective on how best to define and protect the interests of gamete donors, of parents and of children.” -Elizabeth Gregory, author of Ready: Why Women Are Embracing the New Later Motherhood “Cahn’s case for a uniform, federal legal code is compelling and vivid.” -Publishers Weekly Web Exclusive “Test Tube Families makes an important contribution to the discourse about new ways of making families and the technology that facilitates family formation. Cahn lays out salient considerations for regulation of a still burgeoning field, which take into account the fluidity of technology, politics, and cultural attitudes.” -The Journal Of Clinical Investigation ”Test Tube Families provides a legally and personally informed account of the complex and difficult issues surrounding new reproductive technologies. . .It Balances Cahn’s comprehensive look at the legal history and the current laws governing artificial reproductive technology with a thorough analysis of the business and cultural issues that emerge from the technology.” -Law Library Journal “Test Tube Families proposes sweeping legal reforms that would empower the federal government to mandate ART procedures. . .you might be cheered by the hope that regulating the ART industry might at least help prevent more such reality TV shows.” -California Lawyer

Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down adoption ban | Keen News Service

http://www.keennewsservice.com/2011/04/07/arkansas-supreme-court-strikes-down-adoption-ban/

Donating eggs no easy decision - Washington Times

Not sure where this group or website is headed, but the article was fair enough.


Quoted in the article is Sujatha Jesudason, executive director of Generations Ahead, a social justice advocacy group with an interest in reproductive issues.


Generations Ahead is developing a website on egg donation with Choice USA and the Health Equity Institute at San Francisco State University.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/7/wetzstein-donating-eggs-no-easy-decision/print/

Council Targets Anti-Abortion Centers - WNYC

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/mar/02/council-targets-anti-abortion-centers/

Legislators take risks with women's health and reproductive rights | Augusta Free Press

http://augustafreepress.com/2011/03/01/katherine-a-greenier-legislators-take-risks-with-womens-health-and-reproductive-rights/

NY Times 1.23.11. Abortion: Easy Access, Complex Everything Else

Just found the paper when I was cleaning up tonight. We still get a hard copy delivered.

N.Y. / REGION   | January 23, 2011 City Critic:  Abortion: Easy Access, Complex Everything Else  By ARIEL KAMINER In a city where access is relatively easy compared with that of other parts of the country, the emotional terrain is a minefield.