Some (good) news from the Surro world and ART
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April 3rd 2023 #1
Festival : Family pride festival in Paris (Pantin) May 20-21st – I’ll be there! –
(which is NOT the Paris Gay Pride : June 23rd)
-International: The Hague’s update : a new working group on a new instrument to regulate surrogacy in international private law
CAGP welcomed the Final Report of the Parentage Expert Group. It mandated the creation of a new Working Group on an international surrogacy agreement.
The objective: “to improve the predictability, security and continuity of parentage in international situations for all persons concerned, taking into account their human rights, including, for children, their rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and in particular their right to have their best interests taken as a primary consideration in all decisions affecting them”;
The Working Group will report on its progress at the 2024 CGAP meeting
-Europe: The European Parliament condemns the suspension of the registration of adoptions of same-sex couples in Italy
-France : The French Minister of Labor comes out and says he is in favor of surrogacy “not necessarily free”
-France : TMC looks back on the social and historical context of the adoption of marriage for all in France, 10 years ago. It is in the second part of this documentary that we talk about same sex families (“Chapter 4 The family in question” from 19:15)
Part 1 : Read More
Part 2 : Read More
-France : Marc-Olivier Fogiel confides in the newspaper Le Monde on his family life and his relationship with his daughters born thanks to a surrogate
-Ireland : Bank of Ireland has introduced new family-friendly policies for its 9,000 employees, including leave for foster care, early miscarriage, fertility treatment and surrogacy.
-Ireland : Tesco Ireland to offer paid family leave for surro families
-Ireland : Testimonial – Arthur Gourounlian and Brian Dowling talk about their GPA journey and the birth of their daughter Blake born through surro
-Ukraine: civil union for homosexual couples examined in Parliament
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April 17th 2023 #2
Canada/Global: GC Testimonials – Canada wants to demystify the reality of surrogates with a documentary series Porteuses de vie
Context : Quebec is about to legislate on surrogacy. It is not illegal, but the agreements concluded between a GC and the intended parents have no legal value.
Documentary series available here: from April 13 at 8 p.m. (so April 14 at 2 a.m. in France) https://www.noovo.ca/emissions/porteuses-de-vie
UK/Global : Children born through ART ‘should be told when young’
A study over twenty years advises to explain to his child how he was conceived before entering school. It reveals that all the different kinds of ART have no impact on the well-being of the child and his relationship with his family.
“What this research means is that having children in different or new ways doesn’t actually interfere with how families function. Really wanting children seems to trump everything — that’s what really matters,” Golombok said.
France : Explaining ART to children… and parents
Moving and entertaining. There is not just one family model, if you doubt it, and here are the words to talk about it around you
Read More
France: Testimonies – Marriage for all: a bitter decade
Series of articles
-Thomas and Sevan say they went through a surrogacy to become parents because their adoption file was not progressing
-Augustine regrets having participated in La Manif pour Tous
-Louis was only a child when his parents took him to fight against, he will realize when growing older, his own rights…
-Dominique Bertinotti on the “betrayal” of 2013: “The PS has reinforced La Manif pour tous”
-Jena, trans activist and mother: “It’s tiring to always be the sacrificed minority”
France : Sarah El Haïry becomes the first female minister to come out in France
In a fairly banal way, without mentioning surrogacy however ;)
France : Documentary – Anti-queer violence
Queer here understood in the broad sense – all those who are not straight (excluding flexible / curious). Intense but important documentary because “We are often told you already have everything why you continue to militate? People think it’s over. They don’t realise that anti-queer violence is still relevant” and this violence continues to progress… Available in replay until 10/05
UK : A draft to better regulate surrogacy
Surrogacy (non-commercial) has been authorized in England for more than 35 years but the legal framework is not efficiant. It does not sufficiently protect intended parents in particular. The surrogate is legally the child’s mother until the intended parents obtain a parenting order, if and only if they believe it is in the best interests of the child.
The commission finally published its report for the reform (following a public consultation in 2019). It makes positive recommendations for families embarking on surrogacy in England. But these recommendations do not go far enough in supporting modern surrogacy, including those abroad.
- The most important recommendation, to allow IPs to obtain legal paternity from the birth of the child, helping to address one of the key issues with surrogacy in the UK.
- Work on the legal part before the delivery, with newly proposed ‘pathway’ to be followed, will help to avoid the uncertainty that currently exists for families between the child’s birth and the making of a parental order
- Written agreements and legal advice for the surrogate and intended parents, which are positive steps to make sure all parties are informed and protected.
However, the report provides little progress for International surrogacy (a significant part of families), often due to the uncertainties and restrictions of the UK system. There is little in the report that addresses their motivations for going abroad, nor any meaningful proposals to improve the long and complicated process on their return.
The proposal for stricter spending/compensation/remuneration rules and threats of criminal penalties seem unnecessary and punitive, and could lead to lower UK surrogacies.
Ireland, where surrogacy is not regulated yet, takes a long time to think about a legal framework and could be inspired by its neighbors.
-Spain: A law in favor of transgender people
While in Spain surrogacy law is declining… Other fights are progressing: A new national law for “real and effective equality for trans people” came into force in Spain, allowing a person to change their identity status without undergoing two years of hormonal treatment or obtaining a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as required by previous legislation.
-Spain : At 68, she becomes the mother of a baby conceived with the sperm of her deceased son
This one makes the headlines since the last weeks. So if you don’t know the story yet, you should read about it :
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May 5th 2023 #3
France – Less people give their eggs/sperms
Movie – Assisted reproduction movie with François Damiens, Marie Papillon, Stacy Martin by Eloïse Lang on Prime Video
France – Endometriosis, miscarriages, PMA: Carrefour is committed to the health of women at work
World – Decline in male fertility: sperm deterioration factors identified
(infertility is a global concern)
USA – Birth of the first babies conceived by in-vitro fertilization controlled by a video game controller (to lower the costs of PMA in the long term)
PDF – Read More
USA – Genetic tests on embryos can predict a baby’s future health
US – When you simply want to be 2 dads in France, elsewhere, you can be 3 dads on the birth certificate
Keith & Kevin’s Story : Two priest becoming fathers through surrogacy
After two Episcopal priests decide to begin their journey to parenthood, they encounter unexpected roadblocks, including financial hurdles and a global pandemic. This is the story of how they navigated surrogacy, what they learned along the way, and what life looks like as a family of three – in their own words.
Europe – Danish royal couple expects surrogacy baby
Europe – No, surrogacy is not “under discussion in the European Parliament”, as François-Xavier Bellamy asserts
Indeed, surrogacy is not under discussion, the filiation (of children from surrogacy in particular) yes
Over the past year, AIB enhanced its family leave policies to improve work-life balance for its working parents. (…) It also introduced surrogacy leave and compassionate leave for workers who experience pregnancy loss at any stage, regardless of whether it occurs to them, their partner or a surrogate.
Stephen Donnelly vows parents will get “full recognition and rights” of surrogate children
Video – Click Here
Sport – Ultra-trail : une politique de grossesse mise en place pour accompagner les athlètes
« les athlètes enceintes, les athlètes dont la partenaire est enceinte ainsi que les athlètes en procédure d’adoption ou de gestation pour autrui », auront le droit au « remboursement total de leur inscription et un accès prioritaire utilisable dans les cinq ou deux ans, selon le type de course » ou bien être remboursés intégralement. De nouvelles règles insolites dans le domaine du sport très positives pour les femmes et la reconnaissance de la GPA.
EN Read More
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June 7th 2023 #4
Baby born from three people’s DNA in UK first
Being a surrogate is magical, mundane and unlike anything I’ve ever done | CBC News
Surro Maternity leave in European Parliament. It is in French, and the media is against surrogacy, but they published (« exposed ») that EP has added a matrnity leave for parents through surrogacy!
Royal baby joy! Prince Gustav and Princess Carina of Denmark welcome their first child via US surrogate after fighting rule that prevented them for marrying for 19 years
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June 30th 2023 #5
English :
In California, a bill to redefine infertility (and include same-sex couples so they can be covered by insurances)
“Loved Being Pregnant – So I Carried Strangers’ Child” Surrogacy testimony
French :
VIDEO. “Regional surveys”: Baptiste and his two dads, what became of them?
BELGIUM: THE BIOETHICS CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE IN FAVOR OF LEGAL AUTHORIZATION OF GPA
What is Ethical Surrogacy? With Irène Théry, Sociologist specializing in the sociology of law, family and private life, study director at the EHESS
Faced in particular with female infertility, more and more women are resorting to surrogacy and yet this practice remains illegal in France
Irène Théry reminds us that we don’t do anything illegal :)
LGBTI+ rights around the world, where are we? (text and more recent version of the DDC + Short video on the symbol of the flag!)
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July 28th 2023 #6
EN How do you respond to family friends who dont agree with surrogacy?
EN What it is like to be a professional surrogate
EN Surro testimony : « I love being pregnant »
French MP want to open ART to transgender men
Famous french actor soon starred in a movie about surrogacy
LGBT+ rights: training at the heart of the new French government plan
LGBT+ rights: “A plan that lacks political courage”
Netherlands: Transgender woman wins Miss contest for the first time
Exhibition in Paris (Pompidou): “Over the Rainbow”, on the other side of the struggles
Date de début : 28 juin 2023
Date de fin : 13 novembre 2023
Laurent Mullens: “We will have to stop studies on same sex families… There is no difference
UN: report calls on governments to embrace LGBT agenda
Policeman and transgender, she now trains her colleagues
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August 31st #7
Some ideas from two dads to best encourage equal parenting
ITW – Angoulême Francophone Film Festival: Fabrice Luchini opens with the film “La Petite” in the context of surrogacy
“Yes, the film is neither for nor against surrogacy. It is in the immanence, in the urgency of the present: a child arrives, it must be welcomed! »
https://www.sudouest.fr/culture/cinema/festival-film-angouleme/fabrice-luchini-sans-angouleme-je-ne-serais-pas-la-a-vous-parler-16318691.php
Redefining “infertility”: What if insurance covered IVF journeys for same-sex couples in the future? This is an ongoing fight in California. Men Having Babies fights for this right, which the association condemns as “reproductive discrimination” and calls for “equality in matters of fertilization”. MHB has already urged the State of Illinois to provide insurance coverage for same-sex couples and singles
The World Bank has made clear its position in favor of the LGBT community, indicating that inclusion and non-discrimination are at the heart of its global initiatives, and suspends its aid to Uganda
Emission – Baby: this long journey before hugging him – With Christophe Beaugrand and her husband Ghislain They wanted a child more than anything in the world… These fathers did not back down from any obstacle to realize their wish to start a family. And yet, as a homosexual couple, we had to hold on to an inflexible law and sometimes retrograde mentalities. Today, they are going to tell us about this obstacle course, confide in their doubts but above all share with us this immense joy since they finally welcomed a child under their roof
Surrogate’s testimony
Despite the lifting of sperm donor anonymity, donations are increasing! (Waiting times are due to the opening of PMA for all) We learn above all that there are more donors than donors. “The number of candidates for sperm donation has even increased, from 600 to 764 between 2021 and 2022, as has that of candidates for egg donation, from 900 to 990” To donate, you must be under the age of 45 years old and in good health
The list CECOS in France where to donate your gametes: Read More
Surrogate’s testimony
The place of LGBT in the Church? Evry: the diocese organizes a conference The theologian Michel Anquetil will be the guest star of the evening. Member of the David and Jonathan association which promotes LGBT themes within the church. Michel Anquetil indicates that he has lived “as a couple” with “his companion” since 1985
The pope would like to leave behind the conservative current to become more progressive in order to be “in tune with the evolutions of modern society”. In particular, he would like to name James Martin, an American Jesuit, a leader in the defense of the LGBTQ+ cause. The latter intends to advance the subject concerning the blessing of homosexual couples, one of the reforms publicly requested by the synod
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July 28th 2023 #8
EN – Testimony – How best friends gave each other dream family: 2 eggs and sperm donation, 2 babies
Texte : https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/woman-surrogate-friends-wanted-loved-day-102312088
video : Click Here
EN – The Lien (insurance) explained
EN Israeli scientists create model of human embryo without eggs or sperm
FR – La maison des maternelles – Itw of the actress who plays alongside Luchini in “La Petite”. in movie theaters next Wednesday :)
FR – « La Petite », by Guillaume Nicloux, with Luchini : review and trailer
FR – Julien Odoul : « About Surrogacy, there is a debate within the RN as in all political groups”
FR – Last news about this baby from a royal family in Denmark born thanks to surrogacy
FR – Olivier Klein, new “mister anti-racism and LGBT hatred” in the government (Dilcrah)
FR – Clément Beaune in favor of the legalization “in the future” of Surrogacy
