Free Surrogacy Seminar in the UK

Posted on: September 9th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

Simple Surrogacy and Simple Donations invite you to attend two seminars on surrogacy and egg donation for couples and singles who are interested in more information on becoming parents through surrogacy in the United States. Simple Surrogacy has had the privilege of helping many couples and singles from the UK become parents. We would love for you to attend and learn more and have all your questions answered.

Our seminars will be held on Saturday, September 20th from 6:30-8:30pm and again on Sunday, September 21st from Noon-2:00pm. Both events will be at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 Strand, London. We will be serving a light dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday. The seminar is free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!

Michael and his new Babies!

Posted on: August 18th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

We are so glad to have helped such a wonderful man create his family.

Michael Barbaro and his Twins

 

Two weeks into parenthood, Michael Barbaro made a list: “15 Things I’ve Learned About Being a Dad.” In it, he advises against purchasing baby clothes with snaps on them – “Where is the Velcro? Magnets? Duct tape?” – or even bothering with those tiny newborn socks.

“My Italian nose can press an elevator button, hold a bottle and balance coffee, while my toe can lift a car seat and fold laundry.”

If it sounds like Michael could use a few extra limbs, that’s because he could: The 45-year-old ordained minister in the UCC Church and associate chaplain at a private school in New York City recently became a single father to fraternal twin boys.

Michael makes no bones about needing a hand. Item two on his list, second only to “Plan for nothing,” reads: “Help does come when you need it. Accept it. Wash, rinse and repeat this mantra. It’s okay to accept help.”

Raised with a strong sense of his own spirituality, Michael struggled with his sexuality even as he entered seminary to become a minister. There, he began reparative therapy, which aims to cure homosexuality.

“You cannot be a gay and be a Christian,” his therapist told him one day, two years into his treatment.

“I remember sitting there and thinking, ‘I don’t know what I am. But I know what you just said is wrong,’” Michael says. He abruptly ended treatment. Even though he now believed his faith and sexuality could co-exist, Michael felt a deep sense of loss.

“One of the things that made it so hard for me to accept that I was gay was the thought that I would never be a father,” he said. Once he came out, he simply tried to let go of the dream of having kids.

That was 15 years ago. On Easter Sunday last year, though, Michael’s mother insisted he revisit the notion of becoming a parent. Financial concerns were paramount for Michael – surrogacy is dauntingly expensive and he knew adoption as a single gay man would also come with challenges.

“Nobody ever has enough money to have kids,” his mother said. “If you don’t do it, knowing you, when you are seventy, you will look back and have regrets.”

Michael knew she was right. He began investigating surrogacy in India and Thailand, but the tide for international surrogacy had turned against gay parents. He settled on the most affordable agency he could find in the United States.

The two embryos implanted for surrogacy were, according to Michael’s doctor, a boy and a girl. The hope was for at least one to make it, as there is about a 50% chance for an embryo to perish very early on.

But, secretly, Michael hoped for twins. “As a single parent, I was really open to the idea of having twins so that they would have each other.”

The first ultrasound confirmed there were two babies – a boy and a girl – and Michael began preparing, even choosing their names: Giabella and Giovanni.

“I made them videos and called them by name, I recorded books with their names and sent them to [the gestational carrier] to play to the womb, and I kept a journal for them throughout the pregnancy,” he wrote in the announcement letter to his friends. At baby showers, he received clothes and toys for a boy and a girl.

The girl was expected to arrive first. To the delivering OB/GYN’s surprise, though, a boy came out first. She explained they must have switched places somehow. Then another boy was born.

“Everyone started to cheer as they held the two boys together for me to see,” Michael says. “They weighed them, started to clean them and I just kept saying, ‘Wait are you sure? It’s two boys? Really? How is this possible?’ I kept staring at them, confused, and a bit in shock. It felt like everything went into slow motion as they swaddled and handed me two baby boys.”

Even as he met his two beautiful sons, Michael sobbed, feeling overwhelming grief for the loss of Giabella, the daughter he thought he would also be welcoming into the world.

Michael spent the next few nights in turmoil. Doctors had a number of possible explanations for the gender mix-up, some of which alarmed him: Had the clinic transferred the wrong embryos? Had a stray egg from the surrogate implanted?

To Michael’s great relief, DNA tests determined the genetic testing and ultrasounds had simply been wrong. “An emotionally brutal situation that left a lot to be explained, but all I cared about at that point was being their Dad,” Michael wrote. He named his boys Luciano (which means bringer of light) and Giovanni (gift from God).

Perhaps the numbers are flipped for Michael – one parent for two babies instead of the other way around – but he says his family is just like any other. All parents need help and all children need outside role models to thrive.

“No parent can do it all,” he says. Still, he’s asked about the boys’ mother at every new doctor’s visit or casual interactions out with the boys.  Even supportive friends were flabbergasted that he’d consider twins. “I got more of a reaction about having twins than about being single or being a minister.”

For Michael, though, twins were the hope, if not the plan. He’s supported by a village of family and friends. His mom, sister, and best friend of 36 years and godmother to the twins help with daily care.

“Sometimes people really like to lead with their own anxiety about twins, but the truth is that I don’t really know any different right now,” Michael says. After all, he hasn’t experienced parenthood any other way.

“There are moments that I think, ‘Wow, how am I going to do this?’ and then I go back to, ‘Wow, I’m so lucky that I get to do this.’”

Giovanni and Luciano

Another sad case of Surrogacy Mismanagement

Posted on: July 29th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

We are saddened to see once again in the news, is a report of an agency, Planet Hospital, that either stole or mismanaged Intended Parent’s money and did not help them to achieve their dreams of parenthood. We are always so dissapointed when we hear the news of people who defraud Intended Parents and surrogates because this is such an emotional business where people truly put their hearts and love on the line to try and have a baby. We are deeply troubled by this case, as a reputable agency who has pushed for regulation in the industry, and we want to offer a discount of our Agency fees to anyone who was mislead by this company. Please contact us if you were harmed by this (or any other) surrogacy agency as we want to help you to achieve your dreams of family at the most reasonable cost, with a reputable, experienced, established agency.

To those who are looking for a surrogacy agency, it is important that you research the company well. Please research them, Google them. How long have they been in business? Do they have references to previous clients that you can speak to? If they can only give one or two names, that might be a red flag that they are either just starting out with no client history, (Avoid newly established agencies, as they are unproven) or that they do not have very satisfied clients. Does the Agency have a good reputation in the industry, not only with Clients, but also with Surrogates, and Attorneys and Psychologists? If asked, any reputable agency can provide you with professional references as well as previous client references. Make sure your agency has reliable, insured escrow services, as so many Agencies do not have a good reputation with handling Client funds, and this has been a source of fraud in the past.

Simple Surrogacy,LLC,  Having been in business now more than 11 years, is well respected in the industry, and can provide many references to current and previous clients and surrogates, as well as to attorneys and psychologists. Our funds are bonded and insured for fraud and loss, and our escrow is closely guarded with only one person having check writing authority for your protection. When you research Agencies, be sure you ask as many questions you need to for assurance that you are hiring a company who will truly help you on your journey all the way to parenthood.

A Surrogacy Agency That Delivered Heartache

By

Photo

OUT OF POCKET Jonah Winn-Lenetsky, left, and Chris Pommier paid $22,500 for the first phase of their unfulfilled surrogacy contract with Planet Hospital. They have since found another agency. Credit Mark Holm for The New York Times

 

CANCÚN, Mexico — Rudy Rupak, the founder of Planet Hospital, a medical tourism company based in California, was never shy about self-promotion. Over the last decade he has held forth about how his company has helped Americans head overseas for affordable tummy tucks and hip replacements. And after he expanded his business to include surrogacy in India for Western couples grappling with infertility — and then in Thailand, and last year, Mexico — he increasingly took credit for the global spread of surrogacy.

But now Mr. Rupak is in involuntary bankruptcy proceedings, under investigation by the F.B.I. and being pursued by dozens of furious clients from around the world who accuse him of taking their money and dashing their dreams of starting a family.

 

 

Where it is permitted, as in parts of Mexico, businesses like Mr. Rupak’s — many reputable, some not — have flourished by serving as intermediaries connecting clients with egg donors, in vitro fertilization clinics and surrogates. Those able to pay more than $100,000 for services often turn to an American agency in a state where surrogacy is legal and fairly widely practiced. Those with less money often go to India or to Mexico through agencies like Planet Hospital that advertise heavily and charge less than half the American price.

Jonathan C. Dailey, a lawyer in Washington, wired Planet Hospital $37,000 in December 2013, the first installment on a contract for a single mother in Mexico to carry his child. He and his fiancée flew to Cancún to leave a sperm deposit at the clinic that would create the embryo and to visit the downtown house where their surrogate would live while pregnant. They picked a “premium” egg donor from the agency Planet Hospital sent them to. But nothing happened.

“It was just outright fraud,” said Mr. Dailey. “It’s like we paid money to buy a condo, they took the money, and there was no condo. But it’s worse, because it’s about having a baby.”

The emerging Planet Hospital story, which Mr. Rupak characterized as one of mismanagement rather than fraud, stands as a cautionary tale about the proliferation of unregulated surrogacy agencies, their lack of accountability and their ability to prey on vulnerable clients who want a baby so badly that they do not notice all the red flags.

Catherine Moscarello, who worked with Mr. Rupak and handled communications with clients, said the company was engaged in unsavory practices “from the moment I stepped aboard.”

“The object was to get money,” she added. “He would keep changing clinics, and whenever his relationship with a clinic in India or Thailand or Cancún broke off, he would disparage the clinic and the doctors there. But what was really happening was that he wasn’t paying his bills.”

She said Planet Hospital also engaged in unauthorized egg-splitting. In at least one case, Mr. Rupak admitted taking eggs harvested for one intended parent, and giving some to another to keep his costs down. Then, too, Ms. Moscarello said, Planet Hospital did not use proper care in choosing women to be surrogates. Ms. Moscarello, who was herself trying to have a baby through surrogacy, said she was paired with a woman who was only 18, had a 9-month-old child of her own and who had had uterine cysts removed the day before the embryo transfer. The surrogacy did not work.

Mr. Rupak had about 150 domain names on the Internet for his surrogacy business, with web advertisements for Christian surrogacy, gay and lesbian surrogacy, Mexican surrogacy, Indian surrogacy and more.

Earlier this year, he closed Planet Hospital. But this month, he popped back up, once again starting up the company website, offering kidney transplants, gastric bypass, tummy tucks, and other surgery — but not surrogacy.

“My interest is to stay in business and keep this thing going, even though I’m not making any income at the moment,” Mr. Rupak said.

Mr. Rupak said his lawyer had advised him to ignore the bankruptcy, but now he might fight it.

Even with Mr. Rupak out of the Cancún surrogacy business, the demand for affordable surrogacy and the potential profits are such that all the former main players in Planet Hospital — its vice president, the head of the egg-donor agency it worked with, the woman in charge of the Cancún surrogate housing, and Ms. Moscarello, the client representative — are starting their own surrogacy businesses in Mexico.

 

 

In fact, hundreds of new surrogacy businesses advertise their services on the Internet because anyone can establish an agency, regardless of background or expertise. Agencies are started and disappear, sometimes reappearing under a new name.

Some agencies have faced legal action, though.

In one case, Tonya A. Collins, the owner of SurroGenesis in California, was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud after taking millions of dollars of client money, supposedly placed in escrow for surrogacy costs.

In another, Theresa M. Erickson, a California surrogacy lawyer and owner of Conceptual Options, was convicted in a baby-selling ring. She was sentenced to five months in jail, nine months of home confinement and fined $70,000. The ring solicited women online to bear children for others and sent them to Ukraine to have embryos implanted — but there were no would-be parents. When the surrogates were more than four months pregnant, Ms. Erickson told them the fictitious parents had backed out, and sold the babies for more than $100,000 each.

“There are more scams and scandals in surrogacy now than I can ever recall seeing,” said Andrew W. Vorzimer, a surrogacy lawyer in Los Angeles. “But I think Planet Hospital is the biggest mess yet.”

‘Some Horrendous Mistakes’

Mr. Rupak, 45, who is Canadian and is also known as Rupak Acharya, started out as a software developer designing video games, then served as chief technology officer for American Apparel, before founding Planet Hospital in 2002.

He said Planet Hospital had a good track record at the start, when the company focused on orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental work and other relatively quick and predictable procedures. But he contended that he became overextended, and fell behind on his payments when he expanded into surrogacy.

Unlike basic surgical procedures, surrogacy is a complicated process with no guarantees that the surrogate will get pregnant, and not miscarry, or that the fetus will not have serious defects. And unlike most medical procedures, surrogacy is a lengthy process, with weeks when the egg donor and the woman who will carry the baby take hormones to synchronize their cycles, all followed by nine months of pregnancy.

In an interview, Mr. Rupak said he had good intentions, but “made some horrendous mistakes.”

“What happened is entirely 100 percent my fault, but it’s mismanagement rather than outright fraud,” Mr. Rupak said. “I am an entrepreneur, but I am notoriously, notoriously bad at contracts.”

Many of his clients take a darker view of what they say was a trail of lies, excuses and broken promises that left them heartbroken and out thousands of dollars — in some cases, their life savings.

 

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PURSUED BY CLIENTS Rudy Rupak, the founder of Planet Hospital, and Marisol Morales, coordinator of its Mexico surrogacy program. Credit Ted Rhodes/Calgary Herald

 

Former Planet Hospital clients seeking to have a baby through surrogacy in India and Mexico share similar stories of unpaid bills, switched clinics, reversed credit-card charges, pleas for more time and promises to make it up with free services.

Mr. Rupak started his surrogacy program in India, the country with the largest surrogacy industry, but moved to Thailand, and, last year, Mexico, after India closed its doors to gay couples seeking babies through surrogates, as well as singles and those married less than two years.

“By the time you realize how deep you’re in, you’ve lost all your money and you’re stuck,” said Rhyannon Morrigan, who, with her husband, signed an Indian surrogacy contract in October 2012. “They liked to do everything by phone, and put as little in writing as possible.”

In retrospect, she said, there were warning signs.

“Even at the start, when we sent the contract in and asked for a signed copy back, we never got one,” she said. “We got so tired of excuses and lies. By July 2013, I’d pretty much let go of the idea of getting my money back, but I didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

So she began posting her problems with Planet Hospital online, and soon her family began receiving online threats and slurs from Mr. Rupak.

Mr. Rupak has said that if people attacked him, he felt free to retaliate.

Warning Signs Overlooked

In Thailand, too, there were problems with Planet Hospital.

 

“We contacted Planet Hospital because we knew that India was closing to gay couples. Thailand is familiar to us, and we thought it would be good to have an American agency with a lot of experience with surrogacy,” said Jim Carrington, an Australian who paid $25,000 for a Thai surrogacy in March, 2013. “Looking back, I’m annoyed with myself that I didn’t pick up how they made lots of assurance, but they kept everything verbal, on the phone.”

And all their questions, including a request last fall for a refund, got evasive responses. “It was always, ‘I’m out of the country, I can’t get to a computer, I’m in Europe, I’m not sure what happened, I’ll look into it,’ ” Mr. Carrington said.

Mr. Carrington received a $5,000 refund from the clinic, and Mr. Rupak agreed to wire another $5,000. But, Mr. Rupak said, he decided that although they did not achieve a pregnancy, they received enough services that no further refund was warranted — and he canceled the wire.

 

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Jonathan C. Dailey, a lawyer in Washington, paid $37,000 to Planet Hospital to have a woman in Mexico carry his child. The company took his money, but then did nothing for him. Credit Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times

 

Cancún’s white-sand beaches and party reputation have helped make it a hot spot for people, including many gay couples, looking to start a family through surrogacy. In one blog post announcing the Mexico program, Mr. Rupak wrote, “ ‘Cancún baby! Woohoo’ takes on a whole new meaning now, doesn’t it?”

But Cancún is not in the state of Tabasco, the only one in Mexico where surrogacy is legal. So women here who agree to be impregnated and carry babies to term have to fly about 450 miles to Tabasco to deliver their babies.

Ms. Moscarello, the former Planet Hospital client representative, said her new venture, IP Conceptions, would operate in Tabasco.

Planet Hospital worked with two clinics here, Fertility Center of Cancún and Irega. Both said their Planet Hospital experience left scars.

Jaime Elorriaga, a spokesman for the Fertility Center of Cancún, said that his clinic had ended its surrogacy program altogether.

“We’ve had problems with other companies that come to Mexico, too, but not as bad as Rudy,” he said. “They like to cut corners to save a few dollars, and that can turn into disaster.”

Tori Brown, the international patient coordinator at Irega, said, “We have tried to put the whole Planet Hospital nightmare behind us. We followed through with the clients we had, and we’re not going to discuss the situation anymore.”

One Santa Fe couple, Chris Pommier and Jonah Winn-Lenetsky, paid $22,500 for the first phase of their Planet Hospital contract, the largest chunk. The first-phase fees, typically $22,000 to $37,000, covered the surrogate recruitment, semen deposit, egg donor, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Phase Two, when a heartbeat was confirmed, was $13,000 to $22,000 and went mostly to pay the woman carrying the fetus and to pay for her housing. At Phase Three, the cost was $3,000 to $12,000 to cover delivery if the client got that far. The money was paid to Planet Hospital, which coordinated the process and served as a billing agent for the other clinics involved in the process.

“We had flown down to do our semen deposit and testing in July, and shortly after that we got an email that Planet Hospital had not paid the clinic fees” at Fertility Clinic of Cancún, Mr. Pommier said. “Planet Hospital and the clinic blamed everything on each other. At first the clinic told us they’d do whatever we wanted, but then they changed their tune when we wanted to transfer the semen, because they hadn’t been paid.”

In February, with complaints mounting and Planet Hospital’s reputation plummeting, Mr. Rupak made an offer to some of those who had lost money.

“I genuinely want to make all of you financially whole,” he said in a group email. “I do not want to live the rest of my life feeling that I hindered your dreams. This is not who I am.”

He proposed to pay them back — minus costs for services rendered — over the next 18 months, with an initial pool of just $10,000 to $15,000 to distribute.

“All I ask in exchange is that you refrain from disparaging me and my company publicly so that I have the ability to make an income and pay you back as aggressively as I possibly can.”

That same month, in an email complaining about the doctors he had worked with, and turning down a bid by a client for a refund, Mr. Rupak wrote, “Here is a little secret for all of you. There is a lot of treachery and deception in I.V.F./fertility/surrogacy because there is gobs of money to be made.”

 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words on Surrogacy

Posted on: July 10th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

There is a beautiful picture trending on mainstream national media that says so much about the beautiful process of surrogacy, and especially the process that Gay Fathers go through to become Fathers. The raw emotions, the longing, the lengths they go to to be parents all speaks to the wholesome truth that they put all of their love into being exceptional parents. We at Simple Surrogacy often get to see and witness the raw emotion in the moment when a Father gets to see their child for the first time. We have seen how it can transform even the strongest man into an emotional mass of pure love for his son or daughter. How wonderful that an amazing photographer was able to witness this firsthand, and to capture the amazing real love that pours forth at such a moment. This is just an amazing photograph, and we are so happy that the world can now see the raw emotion and love that these Fathers feel, that our amazing surrogate mothers gift to them when they help them bring their children into the world. I hope every woman contemplating being a surrogate can see this picture, and see what gift it is that they give to each and every person they help to feel this very love. Congratulations to the Fathers shown here, and especially to the wonderful surrogate who enabled this beautiful moment.

‘Our pride baby’: Read what the dads have to say about the birth photo that went viral

Lisa Flam TODAY

July 8, 2014 at 11:47 AM ET

2014 LFP

Lindsay Foster Photography

Just before a gestational surrogate gave birth to their son in Kingston, Ontario, a midwife screamed “shirts off” so new dads Frank Nelson and BJ Barone would be ready to hold their baby against their bare chests for skin-to-skin bonding.

Photographer Lindsay Foster was shooting the birth as a gift to her friend, Kathy Frenette, the couple’s surrogate. Foster caught the instant when baby Milo was held by his fathers for the first time, even before the umbilical cord had been cut.

In the photos, a shirtless Nelson, 44, holds Milo to his chest, and Barone, 34, has an arm around each of them, as the new dads shed tears of happiness.

“She absolutely captured the most beautiful moment,” Nelson told TODAY Parents in a phone interview Monday. “I was completely overwhelmed. I was so scared of dropping the baby. Mostly, the feeling was of joy and love and amazement.”

The raw emotion Foster captured, he said, “represents unconditional love to us and pure happiness.”

Barone added: “I was so excited, so overjoyed, so overcome with emotion, it was an incredible moment I will never forget. The fact we have this photo, it’s a reminder of how much love we have for him.”

2014 LFP

Lindsay Foster Photography
“He’s definitely our pride baby,” dad Frank Nelson says of baby Milo, born during the world LGBT pride celebrations. “We’re so proud of him.”

(Why are the dads shirtless? Skin-to-skin contact has been shown to have many health benefits for newborns, from temperature regulation to pain management, so it’s standard practice at many births now.)

The couple took a few photos of Milo with a cellphone camera, and Nelson joked that they were happy with the 200 “likes” that one received on Facebook. But that was nothing compared to the response that two of Foster’s photos got when she posted them on Facebook, and they quickly went viral.

“The fact that she got that picture was amazing,” Nelson said. “We are so grateful to her.”

The couple are still in disbelief when they stare at the photos and see exactly how they looked.

“As soon as I saw it, I started crying because you can see such emotion on everyone’s face, especially Frank’s,” Barone said. “It instantly brought me to tears. I couldn’t believe it.”

The Toronto couple, married for nearly four years, say Milo has great timing. Their first attempt at having a child failed, and Milo, the son of two high school teachers, was born at the end of the school year. He arrived on June 27, during the World Pride gay rights festival in Toronto.

2014 LFP

Lindsay Foster Photography
Before the umbilical cord was cut, new dads Frank Nelson and BJ Barone embraced their son, born to a surrogate in June. Photographer Lindsay Foster says, “Every pain that she had, they were crying along with her. I wanted to take a picture and hug them at the same time.”

“He’s definitely our pride baby,” Nelson said. “We’re so proud of him. That picture, to us, represents what pride is all about and how far the LGBT community has come. Love is love, and that’s what pride is all about.”

As the photos went around the Internet, the comments poured in. Some posted negative jabs, but most were positive. One man wrote that the photos “had opened his heart to acceptance, and that the love shown for a child has no boundaries,” Barone said.

“That brought me to tears,” he added. “We’re not trying to change the world. The fact that we’re able to bring awareness to people and hopefully inspire people, it’s quite a feeling.”

Their photo was shared by actor George Takei, an original “Star Trek” cast member turned gay rights advocate with a huge Facebook following, who wrote, “Congratulations, new fathers. These photos are a wonderful reminder that love is what makes a family.” Nelson said he was pleased that the photo had launched an online discussion about gay rights and what it takes to be a good parent.

“This can open the minds of people, and start a conversation, that all that a child needs is unconditional love, be it from a man or a woman or anything in between,” he said.

The two dads forgot their camera in the rush to the hospital for the birth of their son, but a professional photographer's shot of their unforgettable first moments with the baby went viral.

Frank Nelson
The two dads forgot their camera in the rush to the hospital for the birth of their son, but a professional photographer’s shot of their unforgettable first moments with the baby went viral.

For Foster, it was the first time she had photographed a surrogate birth. While she is used to the pregnant woman needing support during labor and delivery, this time, she felt there were three parents who needed a boost.

“Every pain that she had, they were crying along with her,” Foster said. “When she’d scream, they’d scream. I wanted to take a picture and hug them at the same time.”

She learned a month before the birth that the intended parents were a gay couple, which she said made it special because it’s so unusual.

“What made it even better was the emotion from them,” she said. “It was just absolutely amazing. I’m shocked that I have any pictures in focus, I was crying so hard with them.”

The couple are back home in Toronto, still staring at those first photos and enjoying the newborn days.

“Milo has been a great baby,” Nelson said. “He sleeps a lot, he poops a lot and he’s been very good for his Daddies.”

Lisa A. Flam is a news and lifestyles reporter in New York. Follow her on Twitter.

Evangelical Christian slanders all surrogates and donors in misleading documentary

Posted on: July 1st, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

As we posted just last week, an Evangelical Christian woman, Jennifer Lahl has released a slanted documentary disparaging all surrogates and donors as greedy, sub-human “breeders” in her misguided attempt to outlaw all surrogacy services. As Barbara Collura, executive director of RESOLVE, states in the below article, Lahl’s stance is another way around trying to outlaw Homosexual couples from being able to have a baby at all- which is admittedly another tenant of the Evangelical far right’s platform. Yet another person who decides that what others choose to do in a free society- that is  to help people achieve their dreams of parenthood- should be outlawed because she disagrees with it from her far right stance. The documentary is horribly slanted, and one sided. Also below, an excerpt form another couple, who seek to use a gestational surrogate, and their reaction to the disparaging documentary.

Christian filmmaker sets out to criminalize surrogacy in U.S.

“Surrogacy sets out from the beginning, on purpose, to separate the child from the birth mother,” says critic of the practice.
By Matt Bradwell |   June 25, 2014 at 3:28 PM   |

PLEASENT HILL, Calif., June 25 (UPI) –Filmmaker Jennifer Lahl wants the United States to outlaw surrogacy, concerned it targets women and the poor, and fails to take into account the well being of children.Gestational surrogacy is when a woman carries a child that is not hers, conceived via in vitro fertilization and implanted into the host’s womb. It is most commonly used by women who are unable to carry their own child, partners of infertile men, and men in same-sex relationships.

Lahl’s new documentary, Breeders: A Sub-Class of Women,  focuses on what she sees as a growing industry of lower-class women being exploited by wealthy couples.

“It’s obviously expensive technology and people with financial means want what they want,” Lahl said to ABC News.

The self-proclaimed evangelical Christian is also frustrated that the issue revolves solely around an adult’s wish to be a parent.

“It always strikes me that the children are so absent in the discussions. It’s all about adults – who wants, who needs, who buys and what I can get…Surrogacy sets out from the beginning, on purpose, to separate the child from the birth mother.”

“We now have the medical technology to allow people to have a genetically linked child even if the woman cannot carry a pregnancy,” counters Barbara Collura, executive director of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. “If there are women who want to be a gestational carrier and the legal framework exists to ensure the process is legal and ethical, why not let them be a surrogate?”

Collura went on to ask how Lahl expected homosexual men to have biological children if not for surrogate mothers, adding, “Banning gestational carrier surrogacy is a way of saying that certain people shouldn’t have children.”

“I am not sure that is what our country wants to tell people.”

Local Couple Weighs in on Proposal to Outlaw Surrogacy

Posted: Jun 26, 2014 2:49 PM CDT Updated: Jun 26, 2014 3:41 PM CDT

By WRIC Newsroom
 RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) –  In one of our most hotly debated online stories of the week, the local community is reacting strongly to a California woman’s mission to outlaw surrogacy.

In her documentary, “Breeders: A Sub-Class of Women,” Jennifer Lahl argues that surrogacy is a baby-buying operation, allowing wealthy couples to exploit vulnerable women. This notion isn’t sitting well with parents who have used a surrogate mother to have a child.
Jenn Nixon and her husband Brad are trying to start a family. It’s been a seven-year struggle for the Chesterfield couple, but they’re getting closer to their dream.

“After 7 years of waiting, finally we will be parents,”  Jenn said.
The Nixon’s chose to use a surrogate, or gestational carrier, after they learned Jenn’s heart problems would make it dangerous for her to get pregnant.

“This was what we wanted to do and so I just put it out there, told everyone. I blogged about it and was sharing it, that we found our surrogate,” Jenn explained.
Jenn’s blog gives a candid look at the couple’s efforts to become parents and their joy in finding someone to help them. Jenn disagrees with the recent claims that surrogacy is a “baby-buying operation” that exploits women.

“It isn’t fair to generalize and make it seem like every surrogacy situation is that way,” Jenn told 8News. “My experience and the people I know, they’re doing it because that’s the only way they can have a biological child and I think its a wonderful thing.”

It’s also an expensive process.

“We are budgeting it out and I’m estimating it’s going to cost $40,000 for us to do this,” Jenn said. “With my husband being a police officer and me on a small salary, this is going to be loans. But we’re gonna make it happen. We’re gonna make it happen.”
That $40,000 will cover just medical costs; the Nixon’s are not paying their gestational carrier. She’s helping the couple because she believes it’s the right thing to do. Instead of focusing on any negative feedback, Jenn and her husband will instead focus on starting their family.

 

“Breeders” are NOT a sub class of Women- How the ABC documentary gets it wrong

Posted on: June 24th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

There is a new ABC documentary that claims that women who are “Breeders” are a sub-class of women. This documentary, created by the conservative Center for Bioethics and Culture, tries to put surrogacy in a negative light by showing the few cases where issues can arise in a surrogacy. They cut and edit in such a way as to make surrogacy look exceedingly horrific and difficulty-filled.  The documentary spins surrogacy in a light that is unfavorable, purporting to have the interests of the child at heart, and stating that any child born at the heart of a financial transaction can’t be well cared for or even loved. We believe that this documentary is distributed to try and spin surrogacy into a horror story and to steer surrogates away from giving the gift of life to deserving parents. As the Center for Bioethics and Culture is a conservative body, and many Gay parents are turning to surrogacy to create their families, it is likely that the Center’s goals are to limit the available number of surrogates who would carry for Gay couples. They purposely choose stories where the surrogate is upset or crying, to try and show that the surrogate was hurt during the process. By referring to the surrogates in a derogatory manner- as “breeders” this program’s goal is to disparage surrogates, really to disparage all women who choose to bring life into the world. It is appalling that ABC news would sell this as a “documentary” when it is so clearly a one-sided tale designed to turn people away from surrogacy. The Center for bioethics has a long history of disparaging all forms of assisted reproduction- from sperm donation to egg donation and now, to surrogacy.

We sincerely hope that all potential surrogates and Intended Parents do not take any advice or experience from the one sided stories presented in the “documentary.” Throughout our years in the surrogacy industry, and as former egg donors, surrogates and intended Parents, the Staff and owners of Simple Surrogacy have seen the Surrogacy and egg donation fields form every possible angle and concluded that while there are some misfortunes, everyone who enters into the surrogacy or egg donation process is trying to create a life to be loved by everyone involved. The women who choose to be surrogates and egg donors are strong, loving, feminine women with hearts of gold, trying to help others with their gift of life.

Shame on the Center for Bioethics and Culture and also on ABC for trying to promote their conservative agenda by claiming otherwise. We hope our readers, Surrogates and Parents will do your research to determine the facts behind surrogacy and egg donation and not take to heart a slanted view of a wonderful gift.

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted on: June 15th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing fathers out there. Especially all of the fathers who went to the lengths of surrogacy to create their dream family. No Father deserves more happiness than the one who went through so very much time and effort to bring into the world someone special to love and cherish. We especially congratulate the Fathers of the twins born just yesterday in Chicago, may L & L have a wonderful first day in the world, and many Happy Father’s Days to their dads!

 

Simple Surrogacy

 

 

Israeli Cabinet backs bill allowing surrogacy for same-sex couples

Posted on: June 12th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

Great news for Same Sex Couples in Israel. Although surrogate mothers seem to be in shorter supply in Israel than in the United States, it is our hope that the passing of this bill would make it easier for same sex couples to have their children brought back to Israel and smooth the legal process for all surrogacy children for all kinds of couples.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet advanced a bill that would allow same-sex couples to use surrogate mothers in Israel.

Government ministers from the Likud, Yesh Atid and Hatnua parties voted for the legislation on Sunday; the Jewish Home party voted against.

The bill places limits on surrogate mothers, including allowing no more than three surrogate pregnancies per woman and raising the maximum age for a surrogate mother to 38. The prospective parents must be 54 or younger, and the bill allows for services for up to two children.

The measure, which had been approved in March by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, was held up on an appeal by Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel of Jewish Home.

The bill will now go before the full Knesset, where it must pass three readings.

Under the current law, only heterosexual couples can arrange to have a surrogate mother in Israel. Other couples and singles go abroad — many to India and Thailand — to have children through surrogacy.

Earlier this year, Israeli couples, including many of the same sex, had difficulty in bringing babies born to surrogate mothers in Thailand back to Israel.

Israel has a shortage of women willing to be surrogate mothers.

Louisana bill near passage

Posted on: May 20th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

Louisiana is about to pass legislation governing surrogate parenting in Louisiana, which is a very overdue measure. we are excited that our neighbors to the east will soon have strong laws helping all their residents to surrogacy and creating their families!

Surrogacy birth bill near passage

 

Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 11:32 p.m.

BATON ROUGE — The Senate voted 22-11 Tuesday to create a new regulatory framework governing surrogacy births in Louisiana, moving the measure one step from final passage.

Louisiana law has few regulations governing surrogacy, the arrangement in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for another couple. The House-approved measure (House Bill 187) by Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, would spell out who can be a surrogate and what legal rights the parents, the surrogate and the child have.

“This is going to bring some guidelines and some certainty,” said Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco. “It’s going to allow the courts something to look to.”

But Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, opposed the measure, saying it could encourage unmarried women to get pregnant.

Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed a similar bill last year because of moral and ethical objections raised by social conservatives and religious leaders. But Lopinto has worked with the groups and has reached compromise language that removed many of the objections.

Here’s how local senators voted:

For: Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin; Troy Brown, D-Napoleonville; and Gary Smith, D-Norco.

Absent: Norby Chabert, R-Houma.

The bill moves back to the House for approval of Senate changes.

 

Check your Surrogacy Agency Carefully!

Posted on: May 13th, 2014 by Simple Surrogacy No Comments

If your Surrogacy Agency seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do your research, check actual people references, and look into the backgrounds of the people who own the company. DO NOT give any money to someone who does not check out. This breaks our heart, and we never want to see someone defrauded.

Simple Surrogacy is one of the largest surrogacy and egg donation agencies in the U.S. We are highly regarded in the surrogacy community for helping our clients achieve success. We are proud members of the Better Business Bureau with which we hold an A+ rating. We adhere to ASRM/SART guidelines, and FDA guidelines and RESOLVE/AFA policies in all of our Surrogacy and Egg Donor programs. We are nationally recognized in the press, and have been featured in Newsweek, USA Today, The LA Times, The Fort Worth Star Telegram, CBC National News Radio, Dallas Child Magazine, The Sacramento Bee, among many others.

We offer all prospective clients references to former clients who have utilized our program. Our referral network consists of some of the most respected doctors, attorneys and psychologists in the surrogacy field. We are highly committed to helping our clients achieve success.

What happened to the Couple in Durham should never happen to anyone.

Durham couple lost thousands to suspected embezzlement at Johnston surrogacy firm

Durham, N.C. — A Durham couple working with a surrogate agency to build a family say they feel violated and betrayed after learning the owner of the company was charged with stealing their money.

Lauren Onken had tried unsuccessfully for years to get pregnant. She then found a surrogacy agency in Johnston County called Baby Steps online.

“We asked around. People had good testimonials,” Onken said Friday. “(We) found nothing that really would have sent up a red flag at the time.”

So, she and her husband, Chad, paid $8,000 to match them with a woman to carry the baby. They also put $20,000 into an escrow account to pay the surrogate mother’s medical bills and living expenses.

The Onkens hired a lawyer to draft a contract, and the owner of Baby Steps, Jennifer Soronen, signed it in April 2012. Medical procedures and the surrogate pregnancy began last year.

“From the beginning, I always felt like I was always the one asking her for updates. I was not receiving monthly statements per the contract,” Lauren Onken said.

By last fall, she said, Soronen wasn’t returning phone calls or emails, and checks for the surrogate mother were bouncing. That meant the Onkens had to kick in more money to pay all of the bills.

“It’s difficult to focus on the happiness of a baby, the joy of everything you’ve wished and hoped for coming true, because you’re dealing with legal issues and financial issues and emotionally with the fact that you feel duped,” Lauren Onken said.

Soronen, 41, of 269 Serenity Pointe Drive in Selma, was indicted Monday on an embezzlement charge and remains in the Johnston County jail under a $150,000 bond.

Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation say she took approximately $170,000 from the Baby Steps trust fund for her own use. Authorities began investigating the company, which is now shut down, in December, and they say the Onkens are one of several couples across North Carolina that were victims of the alleged embezzlement.

“What we hope for is that this brings attention to a broken system,” Lauren Onken said.

Like many states, North Carolina has no laws specifically dealing with surrogacy. There is a push in at least three states – Minnesota, Louisiana and New York – to legally recognize and regulate surrogacy. One lawmaker in Minnesota said there’s no clear understanding among the parties involved what their obligations are.

Onken said she’s not bitter, and she doesn’t expect her money back.

“I think we are able to move past that because we did have a happy ending,” she said.

The surrogate mother gave birth to a girl, Charlotte, in April. The Onkens also adopted a baby girl in December.
Read more at http://www.wral.com/durham-couple-lost-thousands-to-suspected-embezzlement-at-johnston-surrogacy-firm/13633406/#Y3g5SwPlfYMF1917.99