NEW DELHI: A woman acting as surrogate mother in India cannot be less than 21 or over 35 years. Also, she cannot give more than five live births, including her own children.

With India fast emerging as a hotspot for rent-a-womb phenomenon, the Union health ministry has now finalised the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Regulation Bill 2010, which has been sent to the law ministry for its approval.

Read the article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bill-seeks-to-regulate-wombs-for-rent-/articleshow/7367486.cms

As of February, priests in Krakow, from the John Paul II Centre and the esteemed Papal University, are to be schooled in the ethics and theology surrounding IVF treatment, a highly contentious issue in Poland. “We want to tutor priests in debates that are relevant to the contemporary man,” said Father Zygmunt Kosowski, director of the John Paul II Centre.

Read the article: http://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul147974_priests-to-be-schooled-in-ivf.html

Read the article: http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=204084

During a two-year legal battle, Anthony and Shawn Raftopol, Americans who live in Holland, worried that only one of the men was the legal parent of their young twin boys. The gay couple married legally in Massachusetts in 2008. Their twins, Sebastiann and Lukas, now 2, were born in Connecticut through in-vitro fertilization with a donor egg and a surrogate mother.

Anthony Raftopol was the biological father and, under family law, had full parental rights. But when the couple tried to obtain a birth certificate, also naming Shawn, they were told he had no legal claim to the children.

Read the article: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/connecticut-surrogacy-law-genetic-parents-legal-rights/story?id=12662224

Nicole Kidman and her country singer spouse Keith Urban revealed yesterday they had become parents through surrogacy – and made a point of effusively singling out ”our gestational carrier” for her efforts.

In a statement confirming the birth of Faith Margaret, their second daughter together, the Australian expatriates said they were ”truly blessed” and ”just so thankful”.

Read the article:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/kidman-urban-have-faith-thanks-to-surrogate-mother-20110118-19va2.html?from=smh_sb

(Reuters Health) – Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it might help women who are trying to become pregnant through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a small study suggests.

Read the article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B64P20110112

England: Penny Jarvis, intends to freeze her own eggs so that, daughter Mackenzie, born without ovaries can use them someday to start her own family, the Daily Mail reported

Read the article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20027989-10391704.html

Shanghai: China will set up an egg bank for women suffering from cancer to store their ovum in freezer so that they can have babies before undergoing chemotherapy or a surgery, which could damage their reproductive ability.

The authority has plans to set up the bank in three years, China Daily reported, quoting the Shanghai Morning Post.

Read the article:  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/egg-bank–to-open–for-women-cancer-patients/138608-17.html?from=tn

Blogger and managing editor of AfterElton weighs in on the recent boom of gay celebrity parents through surrogacy. and the varied reactions from the media and society on both the right and the left.

http://www.afterelton.com/people/2011/01/making-babies-gay-celebrity-dads

The story of Melanie, Michael and the three women who helped to complete their beautiful family, a brother and sister delivered five days apart by two gestational carriers. Told in the mother’s own words, their story takes us into through the complex range of emotions, sorrows and joys surrounding infertility, egg donation and surrogacy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/magazine/02babymaking-t.html