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Couples desperate for children are turning to India, where relaxed laws on surrogacy means the business in babies is booming.. Here a womb can be rented for a few thousand pounds and IVF treatment is a fraction of what it costs in the West. "My criteria is very strict," Dr Anup Gupta tells me in the midst of a packed waiting room in New Delhi.

Baltimore, Md., Nov 18, 2009 / 03:41 pm (CNA).- The U.S. bishops have approved a document regarding the moral use of reproductive technologies for couples struggling with infertility yet desire to have children. The document, titled “Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology,” examines the procreative and unitive aspects of marriage which lead to the creation of children, and analyzes how technology can be used to assist infertile couples.The document  begins by declaring that “in marriage, man and woman are united to each other, body and soul, through a loving physical union.” This union, they explain, is essential to...

Want to have Ben Affleck’s baby? While that appears to be the exclusive domain of Jennifer Garner, women can now at least give themselves a fighting chance of having a child who looks like a movie star, sports hero or world leader.

Mary Cheney, the former vice president’s daughter, and her long-time partner, Heather Poe, are expecting their second child, a source close to the family told True/Slant. [Ed. Note: Since publishing this piece, Cheney has confirmed that she and Poe are expecting their second child in mid- to late November.] Cheney has worked as a principal at Navigators Global, a bi-partisan communications firm, but recently announced that she would be leaving the company for maternity leave and to begin a new consulting firm with her sister, Liz. Close friends were informed that she was expecting a second child about four months...

Couples struggling to have a baby in the UK are turning to Danish sperm donors, after the removal of anonymity halved the number of British contributors. The world's largest sperm bank, Cryos Denmark, has targeted IVF clinics in Britain where top quality sperm can be sold for as much as £1,000. The company has 50 non-anonymous donors whose sperm has been frozen and will be ready for shipping over the next few months. A spokesman said Danish men would be ideal donors because they share genetic heritage due to three centuries of Viking raids and settlements along the east coast...

Right now, a woman in Ohio is carrying a child she knows she will not raise. That's because of a mistake at a fertility clinic. Carolyn and Sean Savage found out shortly after becoming pregnant with their fourth child through in vitro fertilization that the fertility clinic had mistakenly implanted the embryos of another couple. Due to their religious beliefs, the Savages would not consider the clinic's offer to terminate the pregnancy. Instead, Carolyn opted to carry the baby to term and then immediately hand it over to the biological couple. They talked to The Today Show's Meredith Vieira Monday...

A pregnant mother will have to give birth to another couple's baby after a blunder by an IVF clinic. Carolyn Savage had the wrong embryos implanted into her and will have to give the boy up to his biological parents as soon as he is born. Yesterday Mrs Savage, 40, who was expecting her fourth child with husband Sean, said: 'The hardest part is going to be the delivery. I remember communicating with the [unnamed] mother of this child as to what I was envisioning and hoping for. 'I said, "We want a moment to say hello, and goodbye". 'In...

ACTOR Macaulay Culkin is the mystery dad of Michael Jackson's son Blanket, it was claimed last night. The Home Alone film star is said to have donated sperm to help Jacko create his seven-year-old offspring - real name Prince Michael II - with an unknown surrogate mum. -snip-

Celine Dion is pregnant with an embryo that was frozen for eight years, her fertility doctor revealed.The singer has revealed she is expecting her second child with husband Rene Angelil - a little brother or sister for the couple's eight-year-old son Rene-Charles.And fertility specialist Dr. Zev Rosenwaks has revealed he implanted an embryo in the 41 year old's womb that had been frozen in liquid nitrogen since the in vitro fertilization that helped her conceive Rene-Charles.

British child star Mark Lester says he's the father of Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris. "I gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids - and I believe Paris is my daughter," said Lester, who played Oliver Twist in the 1967 flick "Oliver." The 51-year-old told Britain's News of the World he gave Jackson his semen 13 years ago and is godfather to all three of Jackson's children. He believes Paris, 11, is his daughter because of an "uncanny likeness" between the girl and his own daughter, Harriet, 15. He wants to take a paternity test. Lester said he...

The actor who starred in the 1968 film Oliver has sensationally claimed that he is the real father of Michael Jackson's daughter Paris. Mark Lester, the godfather of Jackson's three children, told the News Of The World he gave the pop star his sperm. He told the paper he is prepared to have a paternity test to prove his claims. Mr Lester, 51, said there was true likeness between 11-year-old Paris and his 15-year-old daughter Harriet. He told the paper: "It's been a secret for so long. "In 1996 Michael asked me if I would give him my sperm and...

Former child star Mark Lester claims he's the biological father of Michael Jackson's daughter Paris, who shows a striking resemblance to one of his children. Lester is a longtime friend of Jackson, and says the King of Pop once asked him to donate sperm. He told the British tabloid "News of the World" that he agreed and gave a sample to a London clinic. In a video interview posted on the tabloid's website, Lester said he came forward with his claim because he has "concerns about the welfare and upbringing of the children." "It's a contact issue," he said. "I...

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday. Maria del Carmen Bousada, who reportedly died Saturday, gave birth in December 2006 as a single mother after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. The births ignited a firestorm of debate over how old is too old for a new mother, and how much responsibility fertility clinics have over who gets treatments. Bousada told an interviewer she lied to the fertility clinic about...

At 11:47 p.m., on July 25, 1978, a five-pound 12-ounce baby girl was born. But this baby, Louise Joy Brown, the daughter of Lesley and John Brown from Bristol, England made medical history. She was the first baby born successfully from a process called in vitro fertilization (IVF). Since then millions of babies have been born using IVF, blessing families that had struggled with the heartache of infertility, sometimes for years. But IVF has a dark side. IVF is a procedure in which a woman is given fertility drugs to cause her to produce multiple eggs that are then extracted...

MADRID —  A Spanish woman who deceived a U.S. fertility clinic about her age and become the oldest woman to give birth has died at 69, leaving behind 2-year-old twins, newspapers reported Wednesday.Maria del Carmen Bousada gave birth in December 2006 after telling a clinic in Los Angeles that she was 55, the facility's maximum age for single women receiving in-vitro fertilization. Guinness World Records said the 66-year-old was the oldest on record to give birth and the case ignited fierce debate over how much responsibility fertility clinics have over their patients.Bousada told an interviewer at the time that the Pacific...

MADRID – A Spanish woman who deceived a U.S. fertility clinic about her age and become the oldest woman to give birth (66) has died at 69, leaving behind 2-year-old twins.

MADRID – A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday. Maria del Carmen Bousada, who reportedly died Saturday, gave birth in December 2006 as a single mother after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. The births ignited a firestorm of debate over how old is too old for a new mother, and how much responsibility fertility clinics have over who gets treatments.

Ultra-fast freezing of ovarian tissue from women who have lost their fertility as a result of cancer treatment can lead to it being used in transplants with the same success rate as fresh tissue, a researcher told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 29 June. Dr. Sherman Silber, Director of the St. Louis Infertility Centre, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, said that freezing tissue by the vitrification method, which avoids ice formation, meant that oocyte (egg) viability was almost identical with that seen in fresh oocytes. Dr. Silber and colleagues used standard viability testing...

July ushers in new Ga. laws By GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA The beginning of July ushers in a slew of new laws in Georgia, including a measure that seeks to celebrate the Confederacy while also honoring a civil rights leader, new rules praised by abortion opponents and a pair of laws long sought by prosecutors. Those measures and dozens of others are set to take effect on Wednesday, the first day of July. And while some of the new laws aren't among the most high-profile legislation, many are the result of hard-fought legislative battles that could have profound impact. Prosecutors groups,...

Genetic 'MoT' for disease free babies A “genetic MOT” which can help IVF couples screen embryos for hereditary diseases and have healthy babies could be available in the UK within a year. Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent in Amsterdam 30 Jun 2009 Doctors deny they are 'Frankensteins' bent on creating designer babies. The technique, known as karyomapping, has the potential to spot virtually any inherited genetic disease. It can also pick up chromosomal problems that might lead to Down’s syndrome or prevent pregnancy. Scientific trials are set to begin on the groundbreaking technique, which has been developed by British researchers and...

It is difficult to gain attention in an era that uses superlatives to describe dishwashing liquid and mayonnaise. Perhaps speaking simply and directly might prove such an oddity that words may again have their proper power. And so, here it is: The greatest moral crisis is now upon us. I don't mean the continual, factory slaughter of thousands of babies a day; or the endless parade of carnal innovations mincing across the public square, howling for recognition; or even the redefinition of marriage to include the indefinite union of anything. These are effects, more or less, of the real moral...

DOCTORS have frozen sperm stem cells from a three-month-old baby so that he can father children when he is older. The infant is undergoing cancer treatment that is likely to leave him infertile. His parents hope that once he reaches adulthood, doctors will transplant the stem cells back to allow him to produce sperm. The breakthrough in America could give the infant the chance to have a family, but raises ethical questions because a baby is unable to give consent to such a procedure. Until now, doctors in Britain and America have offered fertility treatment to boys only once they...

A MOTHER desperate to have a second child has told how she lost her last IVF embryo when the NHS implanted it into the wrong patient. When the other woman found out that the embryo was not hers, she aborted it. Details of the blunder raise fresh questions about the way IVF clinics are regulated. The Sunday Times has previously revealed that women undergoing fertility treatment have had their eggs fertilised with the wrong sperm. Deborah, the woman who lost her chance of another baby, is so traumatised by the error that she is reluctant to risk further IVF to...

The mother of the UK's first sextuplets for more than a quarter of a century has told how she ignored medical advice to abort several of the foetuses. Nuala Conway, 26, from Dunamore in Co Tyrone, said she was warned about the high risks of carrying on with the multiple pregnancy, but decided to put her faith in God. She was given the option of terminating some of the unborn babies at 14 weeks and was advised that this was the best option. However, Mrs Conway, who is a Roman Catholic, said that the suggestion of a termination made her...

The solicitor representing an IVF couple whose last embryo was implanted in another woman by mistake has said it was "an accident waiting to happen". The couple had been trying for a second child with their only remaining embryo when the IVF Wales clinic in Cardiff, discovered the error. The woman wrongly implanted chose to have a termination after finding out what had happened. Their solicitor, Guy Forster, from national law firm Irwin Mitchell, revealed there had been two previous near misses at the clinic the year before. The Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust has apologised for the blunder and...

When I give talks on stem cell research or in in vitro fertilization, people invariably ask, “What should be done with all the frozen embryos?” It is usually asked with a sense of urgency, even desperation, as they reflect on the fate of the hundreds of thousands of human embryos cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen at fertility clinics. The simple answer is that ethically there is very little we can do with the frozen embryos except to keep them frozen for the foreseeable future. No other morally acceptable options seem to exist. The question of what to do with the frozen...

With her sizeable bump on show, this is Elizabeth Adeney - Britain's oldest mother-to-be. At 66, she is four years older than the previous record holder. Mrs Adeney, who is around eight months pregnant, is believed to have undergone IVF abroad because most British clinics will not treat women over the age of 50. Friends say that the divorcee, a wealthy businesswoman who is still working a five-day week, is in perfect health and looking forward to the birth of what is thought to be her first child. But her pregnancy will reignite the debate over late motherhood and the...

Business is booming for the world's biggest sperm bank, Denmark's Cryos, which is struggling to meet demand despite a soaring number of donors and new offices opening around the world. At Cryos headquarters in Denmark's second-biggest city Aarhus, chief executive Ole Schou smiles broadly, sitting at his desk adorned with pictures of cheerful babies as he speaks of the company's unexpected success. Two years ago, he was ready to shut down the business, or at least move it abroad, because of a Danish tax authority proposal that would have required donors to declare income from their donations, thereby putting their...

Brian Sheldon and Matthew Shaffer are one of several gay Victorian couples taking advantage of California's liberal IVF laws. The couple ordered the two babies -- even choosing their preferred sex, male -- through US IVF pioneer Dr Jeffrey Steinberg. The Australian Family Association believed it was tantamount to "trafficking in children", while the two fathers yesterday defended their decision to start a family. "The issue is not really a gay issue. It's a reproductive rights issue for everybody," Mr Sheldon said. Dr Steinberg said an increasing number of gay Australians were visiting his Californian fertility centre to start a...

Both women in lesbian couples with children should be given compulsory paternity and maternity leave, under proposals tabled in the European Parliament. Euro-MPs will vote next month on European Union legislation to give conventional fathers and gay second mothers mandatory rights to two weeks off work if their partner gives birth. MEPs on the parliament's women's rights committee have amended European Commission proposals on "paternity/co-maternity" parental rights to reflect "different types of family structure", including homosexual couples.

A woman who allegedly intended to artificially inseminate her wife with her brother's semen has been charged with domestic assault and battery. Pittsfield police responded to a call shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the city's Morningside neighborhood, where the assault allegedly occurred. Stephanie K. Lighten, 26, was released on personal recognizance after denying the allegations in Central Berkshire District Court Wednesday morning.

If you're angry about the AIG scandal or Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, check out what's happening to the infertile couples and surrogate mothers involved in a California womb brokerage. It's a familiar tale of vanishing funds and defaulted obligations. But this time, the potential loss is bigger than property. It's pregnancy.Whose pregnancies are at stake? That's a tricky question. Through in vitro fertilization, a fetus can have two mothers: a genetic one and a gestational one. Last week, for example, we looked at a Japanese case in which a doctor mistakenly put one woman's embryo in another woman's uterus. Weeks...

Couples having IVF treatment are to be warned for the first time that their children have a higher risk of genetic flaws and health problems. Official guidance will make clear that test-tube babies could be up to 30 per cent more likely to suffer from certain birth defects. The alert has been ordered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Government's watchdog on fertility issues. It means that the one in six British couples estimated to be infertile will have to balance their desire for a child against concerns that IVF methods could lead to life-threatening defects or long-term...

Over at Opposing Views, bioethicist Jacob Appel argues that pre-implantation genetic screening for severe disease mutations should be compulsory for parents undergoing IVF. Appell dodges one obvious criticism of this suggestion - that it unacceptably limits parental autonomy - by pointing out that "Western societies have long acknowledged that parental authority cannot undermine the medical interests of a child". As examples, Appell cites the facts that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot deny their own children blood transfusions, however strong their religious opposition, and that "American courts consistently compel pediatric cancer therapy, even when parents object". Given these precedents, Appell argues that allowing...

Last month I mentioned a US fertility clinic that was offering couples undergoing IVF the opportunity to screen their embryos for sex, and for genes associated with "cosmetic" traits such as eye and hair colour. I used this as an opportunity to note that the genetic complexity of many traits (e.g. height, also discussed yesterday) would make it highly unlikely that embryo screening would be effective for these, although for hair and eye colour such screening is certainly feasible. The media coverage of this fertility clinic - run by reproductive endocrinologist Jeff Steinberg (pictured) - predictably sparked a wave of...

When physicians at University College in London last month announced the birth of what they described as the world's first "breast-cancer gene-free baby," a designer infant pre-screened for the BRCA1 cancer gene, critics focused public debate on the question of whether or not such screening should be permitted. Yet as genetic screening becomes increasingly routine, it is the opposite question that will likely raise far more ethical challenges: If pre-implantation genetic diagnosis during in vitro fertilization (IVF) can successfully prevent children from developing serious illnesses, why shouldn't such screening be required? Women who carry the BRCA1 gene have approximately an...

Tuesday March 3, 2009 "Any" Person Can Be Listed as "Second Parent" for IVF Children: New UK Regulations By John JalsevacMarch 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Women who conceive a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) or sperm donation can name "any" person as the second parent, as long as the person consents to the arrangement, and is not a close relation of the mother, according to new UK regulations.The new rules, put forward by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), blow wide open the doors on what it means to be a parent, making it possible for women...

snip whatever one thinks of Darwin and genetics, assuming he was even partially right about genes, is there any hope for the children of such a hopelessly odd mother, not to mention a man who provided his seed because he was "in love" with her? The political culture of today says we can't answer this question publicly, but assuming Suleman's story is merely the tip of the iceberg, politicians who control the purse strings are eventually going to have to stake out a position here. Whatever side is taken, it would surely be interesting to know how many women, desirous...

TOKYO – A Japanese woman was likely impregnated with the fertilized egg of another woman by accident during an in vitro procedure last year, hospital officials said Thursday. The woman, who is in her 20s, aborted the pregnancy when she was told of the potential mix-up at the government-run hospital in Kagawa prefecture, about 330 miles (530 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.

A Brentwood, California public relations agency has walked out on octuplets mom Nadya Suleman because its owners feared for their lives. Joann Killeen, president of Killeen Furtney Group, says threatening emails and phone calls began flooding her firm as soon as its connection to Suleman was made public. “They hope I die, they hope my business goes under, they want to rip her uterus out,” Killeen said. “They say I should be anesthetized and put down like a dog.”

For those who feel Nadya Suleman had octuplets so she could hit it big money-wise, it's going to be more difficult for her now, as her publicist has quit. The Killeen Furtney Group was representing Nadya Suleman for free. However, it decided to end its association with the octuplet mom after receiving at least 100 e-mailed threats and tons of voicemails that went to the LA agency and even to some of its other clients. Joann Killeen, president of the company, added that Suleman now has an agent: Wes Yoder and the Ambassador Agency. He is the same man who...

The oddball mom of eight newborns hasn't had sex for eight years, and vows to go dateless for another 18, according to published reports yesterday. Nadya Suleman, 33, insisted she hasn't been with a man since well before her eldest son, who is 7, was born though in vitro fertilization. "I can't remember the last time I went on a date," Suleman told The Sun newspaper of London, after she was asked when was the last time she had sex. "Boyfriends? I think I'd have to be extremely selfish. I cannot maintain a social life and be a mother."

<p>LOS ANGELES - The doctor who helped Nadya Suleman get pregnant with octuplets has reportedly transferred at least seven embryos to another patient.</p> <p>According to the Los Angeles Times , a woman in her late 40s went to Dr. Michael Kamrava hoping to become pregnant with one baby.</p>

British embryologist says she is shocked to find Michael Kamrava is still running clinic she walked out of 13 years ago A British embryologist who worked for the doctor whose fertility treatment led to the birth of octuplets said yesterday that she was shocked to discover he was still running the clinic she walked out on 13 years ago. Shantal Rajah, 51, told The Times that she left Michael Kamrava’s clinic in the United States after three weeks, such was her concern at his personal attitude. She said that she found his behaviour impossible, including the secretive way that he...

THE BACKLASH against Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old single mother of six who gave birth to octuplets on Jan. 26, has been fierce. The reactions have ranged from reproach to ridicule to anger. On newspaper editorial pages, radio talk shows, and Internet comment boards, Suleman has been derided as a mental case or a mercenary or worse. There has been no outpouring of gifts from corporate America - nothing like the lifetime supply of Pampers that Procter & Gamble provided when the McCaughey septuplets were born in 1997, or the 15-passenger van Chevrolet donated to their parents. Indeed, one talk-show host...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The mother who gave birth to octuplets identified a Beverly Hills fertility clinic that she said provided in-vitro fertilization for all 14 of her children. Nadya Suleman said in an interview that aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show that she used the West Coast IVF Clinic for all of her pregnancies.

As the economy turns grimmer by the day, more North Jersey residents are trying an unusual strategy to shore up finances: Selling their eggs or sperm for cash.  Lured by $8,000 payments advertised on Craigslist, highway billboards and college newspapers, an increasing number of young women are becoming donors to offset debt or to feel more secure as unemployment rises and savings dwindle. North Hudson IVF in Englewood Cliffs has experienced a 60 percent increase in the number of women inquiring about egg donation, according to Carol Woods, donor coordinator. Every day, there are e-mails and phone calls."The very first...

This is not going to be a column that dumps on the misguided and clearly troubled Nadya Suleman - the 33-year-old unemployed single Whittier (Los Angeles County) mother of six who gave birth to octuplets last month. Of course, a single mother of six has absolutely no business having more children.But the real issue here is that we live in a country with so few regulations on the human fertility business that clinics can engage in practices that can lead to premature births - producing low-birth-weight babies doomed to chronic illnesses and even infant mortality. The outrage isn't that Suleman...

The Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets last week told TODAY’s Ann Curry in an exclusive interview that growing up as an only child, she had always dreamed of having “a huge family.” She also denied charges that she was irresponsible to have so many babies — especially with six other children already at home.

LOS ANGELES - The spotlight on the mother of octuplets is turning to the fertility doctor who helped her give birth not once but 14 times by implanting Nadya Suleman with fertilized embryos. The Medical Board of California investigating the doctor - whom it did not name - to see if there was a "violation of the standard of care," board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said Friday. She did not elaborate. Suleman, 33, of Whittier, already had six children when she gave birth Jan. 26 to octuplets. The births to an unemployed, divorced single mother prompted angry questions about how she...