Blog

Should I Tell My Child He/She was Conceived With a Donor Egg?
Posted On March 1st, 2009

Of course, only you can make a decision about your child. But in my experience, openness and honesty is rewarded with respect. On the other hand, secrecy and deception fosters anger and resentment.

Your child will love you no less with the knowledge about his or her conception. It does not threaten the family unit at all, but inspires new connections. Take a look at this Science Daily article: “Re-shaping The Family: What Happens When Parents Seek Siblings Of Their Donor-conceived Children“.

Parents who have conceived children with the help of sperm or egg donors and then try to find the egg donors — and also other children conceived with the donors’ help — often end up creating new forms of extended families, according to new research.

 

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CNN’s coverage of octuplets and fertility clinics
Posted On February 19th, 2009

CNN has run an article, “Six embryos?! How to avoid a fertility fiasco” which spotlights the birth of octuplets to Nadya Suleman last month, and the picture this has painted of fertility clinics.

This article demonstrates how important the ASRM’s guidelines are in keeping fertility treatment safe as well as free of government intervention. Make sure your clinic and/or egg donation agency is a member of ASRM and follows its recommendations.

 

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New York Times article on infertility treatment
Posted On February 12th, 2009

It was a shock to learn that “Octo Mom” got pregnant with all those babies through IVF (in vitro fertilization) rather than just IUI (intrauterine insemination): what doctor would transfer all those embryos? Unfortunately, there are a few unethical doctors out there who make the industry look like a freak show.

An excellent article in today’s New York Times (“Birth of Octuplets Puts Focus on Fertility Clinics“) explains the issues very accurately: the ASRM’s recommended limit on the number of embryos transferred, versus the financial pressure to keep the number of transfers low (and therefore the number of embryos transferred high).

This story gets to the bottom of the conflict: the need for better insurance coverage for infertility treatment.

 

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Donor Egg Decision Making Seminar: Saturday, February 7
Posted On January 30th, 2009

NAFG President Sanford Benardo will be participating in a “Donor Egg Decision Making Seminar” sponsored by the Baystate Chapter of Resolve. It will take place at the Children’s Hospital in Waltham, MA on Saturday, February 7 from 9:30 AM to 5 PM.

Sanford will speak on “Finding a Donor and the Legal Issues” between 11:15 and 12:45. Other contributors will include NAFG team member Spencer Billings Nineberg, social worker Nancy Doctor, and Dr. Samuel Pang and Ann Moegle RN from Reproductive Science Center in Lexington, MA.

For more information, go to www.resolveofthebaystate.org.

 

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CBS story on Egg Donation in New York
Posted On January 27th, 2009

Tonight, Cindy Hsu of CBS New York contributed yet another story about the growing popularity of egg donation, featuring Northeast Assisted Fertility Group’s egg donor program.

“If you’re motivated you can do a wonderful thing and help somebody and help yourself at the same time, but do not think that this is a way to walk into $10,000 and pick up your check,” said Northeast Assisted Fertility’s Sanford Bernardo. “In fact, the payment is not for your eggs. You’re not selling eggs. It’s for the time and suffering involved.”

Click here to see the video.

 

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Boston Herald on the Surge in Egg Donation
Posted On January 26th, 2009

This time it’s in the Boston Herald. Sanford Benardo is quoted:

“Benardo said the egg donation and surrogacy agency has seen applications from potential egg donors double — the [egg donation] agency pays female donors a flat rate of $10,000 after a woman’s eggs are retrieved.”

The article acknowledges that making money through egg donation is not quick and easy. Furthermore, the depressed economy is diminishing the demand for egg donors, making it even harder.

 

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NAFG Introduces Its New Egg Donor Database
Posted On January 25th, 2009

Now that our database has grown to include about 80 egg donor candidates, we have made it much easier to navigate and search information.

Recipients can always view all the egg donors at once (organized with the most recent additions on top), but now they can also search by criteria: location, eye color, hair color, ethnicity, height, and education level. Recipients can also isolate all the repeat donors and exclude the reserved donors, if they like.

To see it for yourself, just contact me with your e-mail address and clinic name and location, and I’ll provide a user name and password. There is no fee to view our database.

We hope this new database makes searching for egg donors easier for our clients. But it of course does not replace our personalized customer service.

Recipients may contact Kathy Benardo, the egg donor program manager, any time by e-mail or phone: [email protected], (800) 710-1677.

 

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CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General?
Posted On January 8th, 2009

I have praised Dr. Gupta on the blog before [“Egg Donation and the Economy”, October 28] as the only journalist to point out the biggest flaw in the “egg donor surge” story: most women who apply for egg donation, about 9 out of 10, do not qualify.

He was able to get the story right because he is a doctor as wellas a journalist.

Some people are reacting to his nomination as if Obama asked General Hospital’s Dr. Alan Quartermaine to be Federal Reserve Chairman. But the Surgeon General is really a spokesman, basically, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta really is a doctor, and I think he is a great choice. People know him and will likely listen to him. He appears enlightened and independent. He is also younger and better looking than the average Surgeon General, but let’s not hold that against him.

I couldn’t imagine Obama attempting to politicize the position the way that Bush did with Richard Carmona. Maybe Dr. Gupta could make a real impact on the public awareness of stem cell research, reproductive rights, assisted reproduction and infertility, and other controversial issues. During the conservative Reagan era, C. Everett Koop bravely and sensibly took on the AIDS epidemic when there was a great deal of public fear and misunderstanding. It would be great if Gupta could keep public health issues focused on good science rather than politics, religion, and prejudice.

 

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