When it comes to parents, it seems that three or even four is no longer a crowd. At least, that’s the conclusion one might draw from the case of Sheena and Tiara Yates, a married lesbian couple in New Jersey. They’ve had their parenting expectations upended—twice—by the sperm donors of their two kids. Both men agreed, in writing, to provide their raw materials and to leave the parenting to the women. But then they decided that, after all, they’d like to have some role in the lives of their biological children, so they applied for visitation rights. As of now, the bio dads are winning. Their case is just the latest reminder of how perilous and confusing assisted reproduction cases can become.
Tag: parenting
N.J. Gay Couple’s Custody Battle with Sperm Donor Could Set Precedent
A lesbian couple from Salem County are locked in a custody battle over their son after a sperm donor sued them for parenting time.
Parenting After Infertility — Why Am I Still Sad?
For most couples, parenting after infertility brings solace and a relationship that is long awaited. But for some, the undercurrent of feelings related to infertility continues to read its ugly head.
How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society
OVER THE PAST HALF CENTURY, parenthood has undergone a change so simple yet so profound we are only beginning to grasp the enormity of its implications. It is that we have our children much later than we used to. This has come to seem perfectly unremarkable; indeed, we take note of it only when celebrities push it to extremes—when Tony Randall has his first child at 77; Larry King, his fifth child by his seventh wife at 66; Elizabeth Edwards, her last child at 50. This new gerontological voyeurism—I think of it as doddering-parent porn—was at its maximally gratifying in 2008, when, in almost simultaneous and near-Biblical acts of belated fertility, two 70-year-old women in India gave birth, thanks to donor eggs and disturbingly enthusiastic doctors. One woman’s husband was 72; the other’s was 77.
These, though, are the headlines. The real story is less titillating, but it tells us a great deal more about how we’ll be living in the coming years: what our families and our workforce will look like, how healthy we’ll be, and also—not to be too eugenicist about it—the future well-being of the human race. Read full article.
Transitioning from an Ob/Gyn to an RE and Back Again
by Iris Waichler, L.C.S.W.
One of the most important aspects of riding the infertility roller coaster is partnering with the right medical doctor to help your parenting …