ARR1.com's blog

Lets face it; many states still come up short when it comes to surrogacy laws. For example, it’s still illegal to be a surrogate in such states as New York, Michigan and Utah. Other states have no laws, like Pennsylvania.

One state has taken a step forward on this front: Illinois.

Two Chicago-area surrogacy firms today announced the launch of a program designed to facilitate the delivery in Illinois of babies carried by gestational surrogates.

Alternative Reproductive Resources (ARR), Chicago, and the Center for Egg Options (CEO), Northbrook, Ill., created The Surrogacy Advantage to help more intended parents benefit by the state’s surrogacy friendly status.

Once again, the media has picked up on the risks of do-it-yourself surrogacies.

We are referring to the New York Times article that focused on a Michigan couple trying to become parents through surrogacy. They found a surrogate online and worked with a fertility clinic that apparently completely skipped the process of psychological screening. In the end, the Michigan couple lost their babies to the surrogate after she sued for legal guardianship. All because the wife had a mental illness that was not disclosed during the process and no psychological screening was done on either party.

Are your organs, your blood, even your eggs property? If so, should you be taxed on the proceeds when you give that blood or those eggs? Two law school professors say yes.

"It's a slam dunk. There's no doubt this is taxable," Bridget Crawford of the Pace University of Law told Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091111-712887.html) columnist Arden Dale, who wrote that “the Internal Revenue Service would likely win should it decide to pursue those who don't pay taxes on the sales of their own body materials,”

By Robin von Halle, president of ARR

California has passed a new law requiring the state’s fertility industry to post health risk warnings in their egg donation ads. Advertisements must now encourage women to consult with reproductive health care specialists before making any decisions.

Good advice. But it’s misplaced. The legislation does nothing to solve the problems it addresses. Without demanding real reform or offering practical guidance, it may do little more than spook women.

Donor Network Alliance (DNA), the unique Web-based resource that consolidates some 3,000 egg donor profiles from 18 U.S. egg recruitment firms, is opening its use to intended parents at no charge for a limited time.

“No other resource offers as many egg donor profiles in a single location as DNA,” said Nancy Block, of the Center for Egg Options, one of the service’s three partner-owners. “Our database is so easy to use and so extensive. We’re opening the doors to explore.”

More and more Americans are choosing overseas gestational surrogates, particularly poor, uneducated Indians. It raises troubling issues that intended parents and the fertility industry need to consider.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal recently reported that India’s surrogacy industry has grown by $500 million since the process was legalized in 2002. Supporters claim the process is far cheaper than stateside surrogacies, but after factoring in plane tickets, the exhausting legal hurdles, and travel within India, the cost difference is negligible.