For some in the LGBT community, determining how they can start or even grow their families with the help of fertility experts is a process sometimes fraught with obstacles. I’m happy to say that in my nearly 30 years as a fertility doctor, third-party reproductive options have come a long way. And my colleagues and I are proud to work with lesbian, gay and transgender individuals and couples to raise awareness of these options – and to help them choose what’s best for them. When deciding on the fertility clinic to use, individuals should first do their homework by researching success

Why do we need a lawyer? Beginning a journey to conceive through third party reproduction involves working with skilled medical professionals, but it also requires working with knowledgeable legal professionals. “Third party reproduction” means working with donors (sperm or egg) to conceive and/or gestational carriers to carry the pregnancy. It is important that everyone involved in the reproductive arrangement understands the legal issues. Many ART arrangements cross state borders, with a donor in one state, a gestational carrier in another state and intended parents in a different state from both. Since the laws governing assisted reproduction arrangements vary significantly from state

In the last few days, much has been written about the lower success rates of using frozen donor eggs over fresh . It is not surprising that fresh eggs have a significantly higher success rate. Our group at RMANJ published a study on this several years ago looking at sibling oocytes from the same woman. We demonstrated that the survival of frozen eggs was approximately 82% and that there were approximately one third fewer viable blastocysts. These embryos were just as likely to have to the correct number of chromosomes and just as likely to result in a successful

Telling your family and friends that you are infertile and going through the roller coaster of IVF may not be a walk in the park, but most people are fairly open with their infertility struggles. When they move to egg or sperm donation, however, many people become a lot more private and may not even be clear why. Creating a Family examined these reasons, talked about the pros and cons of telling your family about using third party reproduction, and gave suggestions for overcoming their resistance on yesterday’s show.* Why Not Tell When asked, most people who are hesitant to tell their family and