Egg Donor & Surrogacy Consulting Blog : Egg Donation & Surrogacy Consulting : Conceptual Options : Theresa Erickson : Embryo Donation, In-Vitro Fertilization

TGIF!   I hope that those who are celebrating Labor Day this long weekend have a great time - I know I will. 

New York - A history of crime and drug addiction spanning two decades should not bar a man from being able to adopt, so says a New York judge who credited the man's attempt to turn his life around.  This ruling will allow this man and his wife to be placed on the adoption list.  His last conviction was 1995, and he claims to be clean and sober since 2000 when he was released from prison.  Many think it was a good decision - what about you?  I know what Bill O'Reilly would say. 

California - Legislation authored by Senator Mark Leno that resolves ambiguities about how out-of-state same-sex marriages will be recognized in California passed the Assembly today with a 44-27 vote.

Senate Bill 54 bill clarifies that same-sex couples who married outside of California before Proposition 8 went into effect last year are recognized as married spouses, not unlike the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California. The legislation also confirms that same-sex couples who married outside California after Prop 8 went into effect on November 5, 2008, or plan to do so in the future, must receive the same rights, protections, benefits, obligations and responsibilities afforded to opposite-sex spouses, with the sole exception of the designation of "marriage."

Australia -  Couples dealing with infertility in Melbourne and the state of Victoria, Australia, will now require that all couples wanting to go through IVF first have a background police check.   Should the background check find any convictions for serious sex or violent crimes, past incidents of having children taken out of their care, or any other crime that is considered a potential risk to children – IVF should be forbidden to the couple.

As stated in the article, I also agree that someone with serious sex or violent crime in their past shouldn’t be raising kids; however, are they going to force everyone else in Victoria to use birth control? And only allow people to have children if they pass background checks?  Unlikely!

This law is unfairly targeting couples with infertility. It’s discrimination, and I too think it’s blatantly wrong.

Prague -    The Justice Ministry is seeking changes to legislation which would affect the legal rights of surrogate and biological mothers.

Under current Czech law, biological mothers are not guaranteed parental rights to a child born to a surrogate. The surrogate mother could gain custody rights to the child she carries and delivers.

The Justice Ministry wants to change this part of the law. "I've been thinking about changing the law since May. In the course of my career, I've met a number of clients interested in the issue," Minister for Justice Daniela Kovářová told Aktuálně.cz.

The Czech legal system permits surrogate motherhood but has no law dealing specifically with the issue.

Belgium -  A Belgian couple who commissioned a surrogate mother to carry a baby for them are to appeal against a Dutch ruling awarding custody of the child to a Dutch family who bought her over the internet.

The girl’s biological father had sought a surrogate mother because his own wife was infertile. Baby Donna was born in 2005 using his sperm. However instead of handing over the baby as agreed, the surrogate mother said she had miscarried and sold the baby to a Dutch couple in Leusden.

Since then, baby Donna has been the subject of a string of court cases in Belgium and the Netherlands. Last year, a court in Arnhem gave the man the right to visit his biological child but turned down his demand that the child be returned to him.

The Belgian couple, who live in Antwerp, have always regarded themselves as the child's real parents. They call her Valentina.

Don't forget that Surrogacy Lawyer, Theresa M. Erickson, is conducting an online seminar about Surrogacy and Egg Donation to air on September 23, 2009

For additional information on The Surrogacy & Egg Donation Seminar please contact Sabrina Scialpi at 858-748-4133 or visit
www.ericksonlaw.net/surrogacy_egg_donation_seminar.html

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Well, it is Friday again - TGIF to everyone.  Not alot on the legal front this week, despite the continuous chatter about the IVF blunders over in the UK, as I commented on this week in my blog entitled Embryo Mix-Up, Resulting Abortion, and Adequate Justice?.   But, I do not want to beat a dead horse, so today's singular topic is sperm donation.

California - The Ninth Circuit has determined that posthumous conception DOES NOT entitle one to survivor benefits.  In a case involving a 10 year old girl, her mother was trying to get Social Security Survivor Benefits for the girl who was conceived via sperm extracted from her just deceased husband in 1995.  

"The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday the child, Brandalynn Vernoff, was not dependent on her father at the time of his death. In California, dependency is determined by the parent-child relationship rather than the marital status of the parents, according to the decision."

Further, the article stated, "

James Raetz, one of Gabriela Vernoff’s attorneys, said California has a system set up to protect sperm bank donors, and this case is an unintended consequence of the law.

Bruce Vernoff’s sperm was removed after his death, and there was no evidence of plans for a birth after the father’s death, according to court documents.

“That’s the big distinction,” Raetz said. “The court really hung on that.”

However, Raetz said, the couple did have plans for a baby.

“No matter what, she’s a single mom trying to raise her daughter,” he said."

Interestingly, I did not in another blog on this issue, that in Arizona the result may have been different. 

"In California, dependency is determined by the parent-child relationship rather than the marital status of the parents, according to the decision."

"While her appeal was pending, the Ninth Circuit decided Gillett-Netting v. Barnhart, 371 F.3d 593 (9th Cir. 2004), which held that a set of posthumously-conceived twins were the deemed dependents of their biological father and entitled to survivor benefits.

The administration subsequently issued an “acquiescence ruling” to the decision, noting that in the Ninth Circuit a child must be biologically related to the insured and the insured's child under applicable state law to be a deemed dependent.

Writing for the appellate court yesterday, Senior Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall explained that Gillett-Netting was based on Arizona state law, which recognizes "[e]very child [as] the legitimate child of its natural parents," but that California law does not equate natural parent status with biological parenthood."

"So, Gabriela tried to invoke "equal protection". After all, Bandalynn would have "rights" in Arizona she doesn't have in California, and other children in California get survivor benefits, but the court didn't go for it. "

What are your thoughts on this one?

Also, don't forget about registering for our conference - Erickson Law and Conceptual Options, a Center for Surrogacy & Egg Donation Announces European Conference on Surrogacy & Egg Donation  at http://www.surrogacy-eggdonation.com/geneve.convention.html

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