New alternative for homosexual couples in Israel who desire children – surrogacy in US or India brokered by agencies specializing in single-sex planned parenthood
Liat Rotem-Melamed
Four years ago, after they had been together for six happy years, Dror and Gil Zitat-Mandelbaum decided it was time to expand their family. As a homosexual couple they knew their options in Israel were limited. They could either try their luck with adoption agencies abroad or, if they found it important to have a biological child, contact a woman who would agree to be artificially inseminated by one of them, also abroad.
Each option came with its own specific problems, but they had no alternative. Unlike lesbian couples, who can start a family with a simple sperm donation, male couples are not blessed with the luxury of a womb.
"We tried to adopt for many years and through many agencies," Dror recounted. "We paid a lot of money but it didn't work out. We didn't know we had the option of a surrogate mother." Today Dror and Gil are fathers to a pair of 10-month old twins, given birth to by a surrogate mom. Ran Paul-Dayan, an Israeli living in the US with his partner, Greg, told Gil and Dror about this option. "They were the first couple who came to me with this problem," he said. "I told them about Circle Surrogacy, an American agency that provides surrogacy for gay couples and single people."Matter of choice
"A year ago 85% of the couples seeking the agency's help were local, but today over 40% are Israeli," said Paul-Dayan, who is currently the agency's Israeli contact and advisor. According to him, nine Israeli couples are currently "pregnant", nine others have recently signed on, and 20 more couples are currently being approved. "The process undergone by a couple interested in surrogacy is very complex," Zitat-Mandelbaum explained. "There are a lot of legal documents, hundreds of checks, a lot of medical issues and a ton of bureaucracy. The process also includes two women – the egg donor and the surrogate. We contacted the agency and they took care of everything.[...]
WADR the homosexual angle really is a side issue (worth noting perhaps in the context of my earlier response on macro vs. micro halachik issues)
ReplyDeletePoskim are already wrestling with the birth mother vs. egg donor issue. Given current trends in reproductive medicine they will soon be dealing with cloning (no father? on father's day??) and out of the womb growth.
Basing all this on gemara's such as the bathhouse conception is getting harder and harder. This is why imho R' Asher Weiss says we need a Rashba type individual who can be mchadesh in these areas.
KT
Joel Rich
It’s a perfectly serious question. If we accept that every decision a person is fundamentally selfish and egotistical, which I believe to be the case, and then we need to measure the level of selfishness. So how much more selfish and egotistical is being a surrogate parent than any other form of becoming a parent? Add to that the fact that, typically, when people speak of selfishness, morality, or other ideas of that nature they aren't making quantifiable statements about the object they are trying to describe (even if they believe that to be the case) they are pronouncing their opinion of the object based on their perspective. It has nothing to do with the object in question. Generally speaking, when people make statements about selfishness, morality, etc. they tend to only speak of it in terms of other people's actions, and rarely apply the same standard to themselves. I’m glad that such clinic as Biotexcom exists. People deserve to make choices. And to receive high level service for an acceptable sum of money. And being judged doesn't do anybody any good. Try to understand where people are coming from, how they got where they are, and never forget that you yourself are culpable too.
ReplyDelete