Monday, December 22, 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Surrogacy in Ukraine
With
each year, surrogacy is increasingly more commonly used by couples to resolve
problems arising from reproductive dysfunctions of different types, which lead
to impossibility to conceive and give birth to a child in a natural way. It is
not surprising that in today's day and age, progressive parents turn to science
to help them build a family. Fortunately, Ukraine is a very liberal country in
this regard. Below we analyze the current situation with surrogacy in Ukraine
from both practical and legal viewpoints.
The
first surrogate pregnancy took place in Ukraine in 1991, but detailed
statistics reporting the number of children conceived artificially by surrogate
mothers are practically unavailable. Clinics do not disclose this information,
referring to medical confidentiality principle. The issues of legal support and
protection of rights of children born to surrogate mothers are supervised by
the Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine. The largest medical
institution for artificial insemination and additional medical care is the
Kharkiv Center for Surrogate Motherhood. Similar centers of smaller scale are
situated throughout the country, around 20 in number.
First,
we must distinguish between two types of surrogate motherhood: the
so-called"traditional" and extracorporeal insemination (in vitro). In
the former case, the surrogate mother is a genetic mother of the child,
insemination can be either natural or artificial, and the surrogate mother
delivers the child to its genetic father and another woman, who lacks of some
or all reproductive abilities. In contrast, extracorporeal insemination requires
the use of genetic material of both future parents, insemination is carried out
artificially, and the impregnated embryo is planted into the surrogate mother's
body. This way, the surrogate mother will have no genetic relation to the child
at all. Presently, only the second method is employed in Ukraine, and the
following discussion will be based solely on it.
Immediately
below we explore the legal background regulating the employment of artificial
motherhood and related issues, such as rights and obligations of genetic
parents, legal relations between the parents and the surrogate mother, as well
as between the parents and the medical institution carrying out the procedure,
defining the parental rights for the future child, and the right of all involved
parties to confidentiality concerning the child's origin.
As
a general rule, surrogate motherhood is legally permitted in Ukraine, and is
commonly employed by foreign citizens. The founding legislative act in this
sphere is the Family Code of Ukraine, which guarantees all citizens an
unimpeded realization of their right to parenthood. In particular, Article 123
of the Code defines the principles according to which the State Bodies for
Registration of Civil Status Acts decide who should be considered the child's
parents in cases of artificial insemination and embryo implantation. Part 2 of
the above Article clearly states that in case of embryo implantation into the
body of another woman, the couple who provided the genetic material for the
embryo is considered to be the child's parents. This means that surrogate
mother has no legal claims against the lawful parents. Please note this is in
sharp contrast with the laws of the Russian Federation and many other
countries, which allow surrogate mother to keep the child after its birth,
regardless of any previous agreements.
General
procedure is provided by the Order #24 of the Ministry of Health Care"On
Approval of Conditions and Order of Employment of Artificial Insemination and
Implantation of Embryo(s), and Methods of Their Performance", dated
February 4, 1997 ("Order"). Other legislative acts include the Orders
of the Ministry of Health Care #489 "On Approval of Statistic
Documentation on Issues of Ancillary Reproductive Technologies", dated
December 10, 2001, and #579 "On Approval of Order of Assigning Women for
Performance of the First Course of Infertility Treatment by Methods of
Ancillary Reproductive Technologies on Absolute Grounds for Budget Costs".
Together,
these laws outline detailed medical procedure of artificial insemination and
embryo implantation. Its general provisions require artificial insemination to
be carried out solely in specially accredited medical institutions in
accordance with the methods approved by the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine.
It also defines the scope of information that should be provided by the doctor,
who carries out the procedure, to the couple seeking medical assistance,
namely: the details of the medical procedure of artificial insemination,
medical and legal aspects of its consequences, and the results of medical
examination of the future surrogate mother.
Below
we summarize the key issues that need to be addressed in contracts with both
the future surrogate mother and the medical institution, which will be
responsible for insemination and further medical surveillance. First and
foremost, in any agreement with the future surrogate mother, at a minimum the
following issues should be specified:
(a)
surrogate mother's health status, and her responsibility for providing valid
data in this regard;
(b) medical institution where the procedure will be performed;
(c) the amount of surrogate mother's remuneration for her services;
(d) additional expenses, connected with impregnation, pregnancy, act of delivery and registration of child;
(e) conditions which surrogate mother should observe for the pregnancy period (living conditions, health regime, nutrition);
(f) the procedure of child transfer and registration;
(g) force majeure provisions (delivery of handicapped child, delivery of more than one child, delivery of dead child, complicated delivery resulting in surrogate mother's future infertility);
(h) confidentiality provisions (responsibility for disclosure of information to the child or any third party).
(b) medical institution where the procedure will be performed;
(c) the amount of surrogate mother's remuneration for her services;
(d) additional expenses, connected with impregnation, pregnancy, act of delivery and registration of child;
(e) conditions which surrogate mother should observe for the pregnancy period (living conditions, health regime, nutrition);
(f) the procedure of child transfer and registration;
(g) force majeure provisions (delivery of handicapped child, delivery of more than one child, delivery of dead child, complicated delivery resulting in surrogate mother's future infertility);
(h) confidentiality provisions (responsibility for disclosure of information to the child or any third party).
Second,
the following provisions will apply to an agreement with the medical
institution:
(a)
institution's responsibility for choice of surrogate mother and her full
medical examination;
(b) institution's responsibility for carrying out the procedure in accordance with the methods approved by the Ministry of Health Care, as well as with genetic parents' requirements;
(c) terms and conditions of medical surveillance during the pregnancy;
(d) confidentiality provisions (responsibility for disclosure of information to the child or any third party).
(b) institution's responsibility for carrying out the procedure in accordance with the methods approved by the Ministry of Health Care, as well as with genetic parents' requirements;
(c) terms and conditions of medical surveillance during the pregnancy;
(d) confidentiality provisions (responsibility for disclosure of information to the child or any third party).
In
most cases, medical institutions provide their draft agreements both for
themselves and surrogate mothers. It is important to carefully review these
drafts and insist on your amendments if the provided draft does not ensure
genetic parents' rights to the full extent. For example, in agreement with a
medical institution one can often find a provision that the parents agree not
to submit any legal claims against the institution. This provision contradicts
one of the basic principles of civil agreements, stated in Article 3 of the
Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, namely, waiving the right to protect your
interests in court.
In
conclusion, due to the balanced combination of legal acceptability, high
qualification of medical staff, comparatively low prices and unparalleled
qualities of Ukrainian women, who are ready to assist others in their search of
personal happiness, Ukraine provides unique possibilities for couples from all
over the world to realize their parental rights. To take advantage of all this,
however, one needs to take certain minimum precaution measures, in co-operation
with a reliable local lawyer, who is aware of the pitfalls.
((http://familylaw.com.ua/))
How just four pints of lager a week harms male fertility
Just four pints of lager a week could harm a man’s chances of having a
family, research suggests.
A
study of healthy young men found that drinking just a little more than three
pints a week, or half a pint a day, can reduce sperm quality.
The
researchers found the effects occurred when more than 7.5 units of alcohol a
week - with the average pint of beer containing around 2.3 units.
However,
many popular lagers are stronger than this.
For
instance, a pint of Stella Artois lager contains 2.7 units – meaning that fewer
than three pints a week may be harmful.
The
study also found that the more a man drinks, the greater the toll on sperm.
The
Danish researchers said that given the large amounts of alcohol drunk by young
men, their finding is a public health concern.
Around
one in seven couples in the UK has trouble starting a family and male
infertility is to blame in almost half of cases.
Some
will remain childless, despite spending thousands of pounds on IVF.
The
study, published in the BMJ Open journal, involved 1,200 military recruits aged
between 18 and 28.
They
were asked about their drinking habits and gave blood and sperm samples.
They had drunk 16 units on average the previous week and more than half
had binged on booze or been drunk more than twice in the past month.
Boozing
was linked to changes in reproductive hormones – and to the health of the men’s
sperm.
The
researchers found that for men who habitually drank heavily there was a clear
link between alcohol intake and quality of sperm.
The
more a man drunk, the less sperm he made and the more abnormal it was in shape
and size.
Importantly, the effect was apparent after just 7.5 units a week -
although it was particularly strong after 37.5 units a week.
The
NHS advises that men don’t regularly consume more than 21 to 28 units of
alcohol a week.
The
University of Southern Denmark researchers said that they can’t be sure that
alcohol is causing the damage.
For
instance, it may be simply be that men with poor sperm are more likely to
drink.
But
they warned that even ‘modest’ amounts of booze may be harmful – and advised
against ‘high habitual intake’.
However,
going tee-total may not be the answer. The analysis also found that men who
didn’t drink at all had poorer sperm than those who had a small amount. More
research is needed to explain this.
Chris
Barratt, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Dundee, said:
‘I think the main message of this paper is clear - high levels of alcohol
intake do appear to be associated with changes in sperm and semen that may
affect fertility.’
Professor
Sheena Lewis, of Queen’s University Belfast, described the results as
‘compelling’.
But
Dr Allan Pacey, a male fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, said
his own study of infertile men had failed to link boozing with sperm quality.
However, he said that binge drinking may be more harmful than consuming
the same amount of alcohol over a longer period of time.
((http://www.dailymail.co.uk/))
Friday, December 19, 2014
BioTexComis Your Best Choice
Frequently we face the situations when seriously
ill people seek for a suitable donor of blood or internal organs around the
world to get the hope of life. As well as infertile couples (about 53 million)
relying on assisted methods of reproductive medicine in order to solve own
problem of infertility. Donation of oocytes is among such methods. It is the
most effective treatment of female infertility when the ovaries do not produce
own eggs. Legislation of most European countries prohibits such procedures as egg
donation, basing on religious or ethical aspects. But there are also states
where such donation is very popular in reproductive medicine. These states are Ukraine , Russia ,
America , Canada , Kazakhstan ,
Romania , Belgium and Spain Ukraine
BioTexCom specializes in programs of egg
donation and surrogate motherhood (using only fresh oocytes!). Day after day
medical specialists of Ukrainian clinic achieve incredible results in this area!
And it concerns patients of all age groups. Almost all records of late pregnancies
(after 60) were fixed in BioTexCom clinic.
What do medical center BioTexCom use to achieve
such a great results? Foremost, specialists of the center work only with fresh
genetic material and do not welcome cryopreservation. It automatically
multiplies the chances of successful fertilization. Secondly, highly skilled
embryologists of this clinic conduct not only spermogram but the analysis of
sperm’s apoptosis as well. These methods give BioTexCom a great opportunity to
determine the presence and quantity of harmful cells failed to perform
successful conception, and can also cause damage of DNA. In the case of
low-quality cells, doctors prescribe appropriate treatment (special drugs improve
the quality of problematic cells) after that retest and successfully fertilize
an egg.
Starting to work with infertile couple, doctors
of the BioTexCom clinic use only individual approach to each case. First of
all, doctors conduct a detailed diagnosis of patients in order to clearly
identify the cause of infertility or reasons of unsuccessful IVF attempts.
There are no identical protocols as each individual patient is tested and
prescribed a single treatment. BioTexCom team does not work in the traces because
the positive and successful outcome of the program is the main goal of doctors.
Working with programs of egg donation and
surrogacy doctors of BioTexCom center also know how to calculate and determine
the ideal "window of implantation". It means the most opportune
moment for the embryo transfer without disturbing the structure and integration
of the endometrium.
Basing on all advantages that were mentioned
above, BioTexCom clinic offers unique conditions. It is the only center of
reproductive medicine in the world which will return the client full cost of
the program in the case of its failure. But it is rather hard to meet such precedents
here. Patients from all over the world go to Ukraine
There is no absolute infertility! BioTexCom
knows it for sure and continues to improve its methods amazing the whole world
with incredible results.
Adoption or surrogacy
As of today about 2.5 million children -
orphans and children deprived of parental care are registered in Europe . More than half of them have different kinds of
disabilities. Very often couples who faced with the problem of infertility and
can not have children of their own due to medical reasons adopt children from
orphanages. Many foreign couples adopt children from Ukrainian or Russian
orphanages as abroad the adoption procedure is rather complex and long-running.
Citizens of Spain , Italy , Israel ,
France and the United States
People who have hunkered down to such an
important step as adoption usually cause a great respect and support of the
community unlike surrogate motherhood, which stick pins and hot debates and is considered
to be rather immoral decision. So, for
example, according to statistics, each year about 700 Italian couples leave the
territory of Ukraine
Adopting, for example, a child with heart
defect, cerebral palsy, HIV positive, or a child with one leg, hand (there are more
than a half of such children in orphanages) you give him a chance to develop in
real family, with all its components, sometimes even saving his life. In
addition, in such way you make a significant contribution to the solution of a large-scale
social problem of child parentlessness. Married couples who express a desire to
adopt a child with disabilities are given certain privileges and such adoption
process goes on much faster than in the case of a healthy child.
Today, surrogacy is the main alternative to
adoption. Despite the worldwide condemnation surrogacy and "test-tube
babies" procedures gain serious speed and are rather hot among infertile
couples all over the world.
In the case of surrogacy when strange woman
bears a child after his birth she immediately writes an official rejection and gives
biological parents a baby. And in this situation you have a job to make all
things correctly. You are alone with a newborn baby who cries all the time and
you can not understand why, child needs hourly feeding, changing of diapers,
etc. While adopting a child you have an opportunity to take an older child. Of
course he can be from a difficult family (usually child’s parents are drug, alcohol
addicted, carriers of the AIDS virus or various genetic diseases) with a
negative heredity and bad habits. But you have a good grip on the situation: re-education,
teaching, familiarity with the new civilized world, etc.
Surrogate child who is genetically yours will
make you go through all the stages of development that has a lot of pros and
cons. Yes, you will easily prepare all necessary documents in which black and white
will be written that you are the biological parents of a child, he has your
last name and you can choose his own name. But in addition you will have to bravely
survive facing the society’s opposition. Although, as one writer said:
"Each of us has his own difficulties, its measure and methods to overcome.
Unnecessary comparisons are not needed”.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Our Children! :)
See the results of our doctors and embryologists!
http://mother-surrogate.info/galleries/our-children/
http://mother-surrogate.info/galleries/our-children/
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