This past Sunday, I was pleased to host our Father’s Day event with Dr. Michael Doyle of CT Fertility. The event was held on Father’s Day to celebrate not only fathers but the dream of fatherhood, the dream of parenthood, really. We had gay couples interested in becoming fathers as well as straight couples dreaming of becoming mothers and fathers. One couple came with their four-month-old twin boys and brought with them the visible evidence that the dream of becoming parents through surrogacy can truly become a reality.
Dr. Doyle discussed the medical issues and procedures associated with egg donation and the various options people have. You can use an egg donor and keep all the eggs for your own embryos, or you can share the eggs from the donor and only pay half of the cost for the egg donation and egg retrieval procedures. You also have the option of egg banking, which is essentially selecting eggs that have already been retrieved from an egg donor. In addition to this, he also discussed the distinction between a freshly made embryo transfer and a frozen embryo transfer. In certain circumstances, due to factors such as age of the donor and new techniques for freezing embryos, there may be very little difference in success rates for either fresh or frozen embryo transfers.
I discussed insurance and legal issues associated with surrogacy. In terms of maternity insurance particularly, there are various options available. They can range from a scenario where it is clear that the surrogate has maternity insurance with no exclusions to one where the surrogate has no insurance and we have to put some kind of medical policy in place. The policies under Obamacare are those that mandate both maternity and newborn coverage. They differ by state and by carrier, and some of these policies have surrogacy exclusions. However, a very strong argument can be made that under federal law, such exclusions are not legal.
Insurance issues and options become clearer once a possible surrogate has been identified. Once there is a surrogate, her specific insurance policy can be considered to see what she has and needs, if anything, to cover a surrogate pregnancy.
As for legal issues, the differences between various states where surrogacy is permitted were discussed. Compensated surrogacy, when the surrogate is paid, is not permitted in some states. The confounding aspect is that every state has its own laws and legal procedures. Because of this, it is important to ensure that intended parents are represented appropriately in the state where their surrogate lives and will give birth.
The Father’s Day event was very informative and definitely a success. We look forward to future events as we continue to bring positive information about surrogacy.
- Victoria