This year we have an exceptional group of co-hosts, guests and award recipients that will surely make this year’s Kokopelli Ball one of the best ever. I invite you to read more about the Kokopelli Ball in this issue, as well as a new AFA initiative, Coaching Groups via telephone, and this month’s featured article on domestic surrogacy law.

In this issue:
Kokopelli Ball 2004
AFA Coaching Groups
Surrogacy in the United States

Kokopelli Ball – Monday October 4, 2004
Attend, Volunteer, or Donate.

The 2004 Kokopelli Ball, The AFA’s annual fundraising gala, will be held on Monday, October 4 at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers in New York – a beautiful venue which boasts panoramic views of the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty.

At this year’s Kokopelli Ball, we will honor the work of dedicated medical professionals for their tireless effort to make dreams come true for so many couples. We invite members and friends of The AFA to join us we award physicians, researchers, scientists, lawyers, mental health professionals, and the media for their outstanding ability to break new ground and shed light on fertility and adoption.

Our co-hosts are nine-time Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Dara Torres and News Channel 4-NBC Medical Correspondent Dr. Max Gomez, and our special guests include acclaimed actors Brooke Shields and B.D. Wong! We look forward to having them join us, as we take this opportunity to celebrate, to enjoy wonderful cuisine and fabulous music, and to connect with our friends.

This year, we are honored that the newly named Howard and Georgeanna Jones Life Time Achievement Award will be presented to Howard W. Jones, Jr., M.D. & Georgeanna Seegar Jones, M.D. for their outstanding contributions to the field of reproductive medicine.

The Robert Edwards Award will be given to Lucinda Veeck, MLT, hDSc, and the Family Building Award recipients are Claudio Benadiva, M.D.; Sam Bender, M.D. & Andrei Rebarber, M.D.; Susan L.Crockin, Esq; Michael R. Drews; M.D.; Michael A. Feinman, M.D., FACOG; David Hoffman, M.D.; Joy Lewin; and Elsevier Publishing. The Kokopelli Prize, awarded for excellence in the area of volunteerism, will be presented to Don Hribek. This year's Media Award is being presented to Town and Country magazine.

You can purchase tickets or a place an ad in our Kokopelli program by contacting Corey Whelan, Director of Development, at (718) 853-1411 or cwAFA@aol.com.

The AFA is also looking for enthusiastic volunteers and donations to our raffle. If you would like to donate your time or an item to the Kokopelli Ball, contact Corey Whelan at (718) 853-1411 or cwAFA@aol.com.

Join us for the 2004 Kokopelli Ball and help us celebrate and congratulate our honorees!.

Join The AFA by Phone: AFA COACHING GROUPS

AFA Coaching Groups, a new initiative, provides our members with an effective and accessible means of utilizing professional support. The Coaching model builds on the premise that all people, including those experiencing compromised fertility, possess inherent strengths and capacities that allow them to effectively deal with emotional issues and to move toward and realize the life they want.

Family building challenges can lead to feeling overwhelmed, isolated and hopeless. In this context, decision making and intimate relationships can be difficult and confusing. An AFA Coaching group provides a powerful and nurturing forum for connecting with others, discovering your resilience, and pursuing your family building goals with balance and clarity.

An AFA Coaching Group will help you:

• Manage interactions with family and friends

• Negotiate the medical / adoption systems

• Enhance connections to the important people in your life

• Cope with holidays, baby showers and other family events

• Embrace powerful feelings and maintain your emotional balance.

Phone based tele-coaching groups provide a convenient and private way for you to take part in a supportive and educational group experience from the comfort of your home or work place. These groups are time-limited tele-groups that meet via a phone “bridge line”. A bridge line allows all participants to hear and speak with each other. No special phone is required. Groups meet weekly for 1 hour, at a time that is convenient to all participants. Groups are organized by topic: couples, women, men, adoption, etc. All groups are led by licensed mental health professionals with an expertise in Infertility treatment and/or Adoption.

For more information, fee schedule, and to register please contact Co-Directors of Support Groups: Sara Barris 718-544-0932 / SaraBarris@aol.com, or Joann Galst 212-759-2783 / JGalst@aol.com

Stay well,
Pam

Connections Online
Sessions Schedule - August

August 4, 2004, Wednesday
Speaker: Natalie Cekleniak, M.D. (The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas)
Topic: Is it Time for IVF?
Time: 8-9 PM, EST

August 10, 2004, Tuesday
Speaker: Barry Witt, M.D., (Medical Director of the Greenwich Fertility and IVF Center, which is affiliated with Greenwich Hospital and the NYU Program for IFV)
Topic: Infertility Medications- Learn How to Make Choices
Time: 8-9 PM, EST

August 17, 2004, Tuesday
Speaker: Cindy Ness, C.S.W., A.B.D.
Topic: Who to Tell, Why to Tell, How to Tell (Figure Out the Advantages and Disadvantages of Telling People When You’re Having Trouble Conceiving)
Time: 8-9 PM, EST

August 25, 2004, Wednesday
Speaker: Steven Spandorfer, M.D., (The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at The New York Weill Cornell Center)
Topic: Co-Culture and How it May Affect Your Success
Time: 8-9 PM, EST

Click here for Connections Online

The Regent Wall Street, the site of the 2003 Kokopelli Ball.

AFA Executive Director, Pamela Madsen (center) with co-hosts Joan Lunden (l) and Shawn Southwick-King (r).

Pamela Madsen and Joan Lunden presenting the Kokopelli Award to Dona Bertarelli Spath.

Eli Adashi, M.D., recipient of the 2003 AFA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Surrogacy in the United States – Legal Update
by Gregory Stern

Laws in the United States regarding surrogacy continue to develop as surrogacy has become an increasingly commonplace option for infertile couples seeking to become parents. The states are taking a variety of approaches in response to this growth, ranging from prohibition (e.g., New York) to full legalization with court approved enforceable contracts (e.g., Texas). The trend appears to be toward honoring the “intent” of the parties, rather than determining parenthood based solely upon a biological connection or the act of giving birth. In surrogacy, a third party female agrees to carry a child on behalf of the “intended parents” (the couple seeking a child), with or without compensation. Upon the birth of the child she surrenders custody of the child to the intended parents.

Traditional Arrangements
Once the only type of surrogacy available, medical advances have significantly reduced the number of so-called “traditional” arrangements taking place. In a “traditional” arrangement, the surrogate conceives a child through artificial insemination with the sperm of the intended father and agrees to carry and deliver the child to the intended father. The surrogate then terminates her parental rights to the child and the parties usually anticipate that the wife of the intended father will adopt the child. With the ever increasing success rates for in vitro procedures and the availability of egg donors, more and more couples are opting against traditional surrogacy in favor of the gestational arrangements discussed below. This is especially the case given the emotional and legal issues that may arise when the surrogate is carrying and surrendering her own biological child.

Gestational Arrangements
In a gestational arrangement, the surrogate is not the biological mother of the child she will carry and deliver. Thanks to medical science, embryos can now be created with any combination of genetic contributors, including sperm donors, egg donors, or both. The result is a multitude of potential biological relationships. For example, the eggs of the intended mother and the sperm of the intended father can be combined, resulting in a child with a biological relationship to both of the intended parents. Or eggs from an egg donor can be combined with the sperm of the intended father, resulting in a child with a biological relationship to only the intended father. The intended parents can also create embryos from both an egg donor and a sperm donor and transfer those embryos to a surrogate, resulting in a child with no biological relationship to any of the parties, including the surrogate.

The legal rights of the parties in gestational arrangements and their relationship to any resulting child depends entirely on the law of the applicable state. In general, arrangements in which the surrogate does not receive compensation are permissible throughout the country. This is often the case where a family member or close friend agrees to carry the child. Some states have enacted legislation prohibiting surrogacy for compensation (e.g., New York), while others have statutes authorizing surrogacy but with strict prerequisites and limited compensation (e.g., Florida). Still other states do not have statutes governing surrogacy but have developed case law in the area (e.g., California). But the laws in most states simply do not address surrogacy, either favorably or unfavorably. The result is that, in most states, participants must apply general family law principles to their arrangements and carefully work their way through the legal process. Unfortunately, this often leads to uncertainty as to the legal relationship of the parties with any resulting child.

Recent Developments
Texas recently enacted the most progressive statute in the United States dealing with gestational arrangements. As of September 1, 2003, court-approved “gestational agreements” between intended parents and gestational mothers (surrogates) are enforceable in Texas. The gestational mother may receive compensation and the intended parents will be recognized as the legal parents upon the birth of the child. There is no need for an adoption and the names of the intended parents are placed directly onto the birth certificate.

Texas law authorizes a wide variety of gestational arrangements. The most common would be one in which the gestational mother carries a child that is biologically related to one or both of the intended parents. But it is also possible to have a binding arrangement where there is no biological connection whatsoever between either of the intended parents and the child. This would arise where the intended parents use both an egg donor and sperm donor and transfer the resulting embryo to a gestational mother.

A contract must satisfy numerous requirements before a Texas court will approve it as a “gestational agreement”. The principal requirements are as follows:

• The intended parents must be married to each other

• The parties must sign the agreement more than 14 days before the date of the transfer of embryos to the gestational mother

• The intended mother must be unable to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth to a child or must be unable to do so without unreasonable risk to her physical or mental health or to the health of the child

• The gestational mother must have had at least one previous pregnancy and delivery and carrying another pregnancy to term and giving birth will not pose an unreasonable risk to her physical or mental health or the child’s health

• The gestational mother’s eggs cannot be used in the procedure and pregnancy cannot be achieved by sexual intercourse and

• Unless waived by the court, the intended parents must complete a home study

The gestational agreement must provide various other safeguards for the health of the gestational mother and contain disclosures designed to ensure that all parties have full knowledge of the arrangement and its risks. Either the intended parents or the gestational mother must be Texas residents, which means that an out-of-state couple can claim protection under the law if they work with a gestational mother residing in Texas.

In conclusion, as a result of both medical advances and legal developments, couples seeking to become parents through surrogacy have more options available today than ever before.

Gregory Stern, J.D.
10777 Westheimer, Suite 350
Houston, Texas 77042-3457
(713) 785-1037
email: greg@ssa-agency.com

BIOGRAPHY
Greg Stern has been practicing law since 1980 and is the legal director of Southwest Surrogacy Arrangements, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas. Greg has completed numerous surrogate arrangements in the Texas courts and represents several of the major Texas fertility clinics on legal matters for their assisted reproduction programs. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, Greg is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is a former adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law School.