Did you enjoy our show last week with guest host and parent educator Danielle Brooks? Danielle had so many wonderful tips to offer new parents - tips for surviving becoming a new parent! If you haven't heard it yet or would like to for the first time, click here.
There will be no live show this week as we prepare to have TWO amazing live shows next week. On Monday at 7pm we'll be chatting about Families Through Surrogacy with a whole panel of amazing guests! And then on our regularly scheduled show on Wednesday at 7pm Dawn will be chatting with Cory Silverberg. Stay tuned to the Episodes page for even more info, and be sure to Like us on Facebook for all the latest show info!
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Episode 27: Surviving Becoming A New Parent, with Parent Educator Danielle Brooks
Friday, February 14, 2014
February 14th
Happy Valentine's Day! It's been a great week on the ABC's of Surrogacy. If you haven't had a chance to listen to our show this week, you can do so now on demand. Be sure to leave your thoughts in a comment (each show page is connected to Facebook so you can leave a comment without having to sign in or register with our site).
Next week Dawn will be speaking with Parent Educator Danielle Brooks about how to survive becoming a new parent. We can't wait for you to hear what tips Danielle has to offer!
Next week Dawn will be speaking with Parent Educator Danielle Brooks about how to survive becoming a new parent. We can't wait for you to hear what tips Danielle has to offer!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Episode 26: Tips For Infertile Partners, featuring Kristen Magnacca, author of "Love and Infertility"
Monday, February 10, 2014
February 10th
Happy Monday! This week the ABC's is pleased to speak with guest host Kristen Darcy (Magnacca), author of "Love and Infertility". Be sure to tune in Wednesday at 7pm PST on BlogTalkRadio for the live event, or you can catch the show anytime on demand via BlogTalkRadio or this very website.
Read Kristen's bio on our blog, follow her on Twitter @KristenMagnacca, and Like her on Facebook!
Read Kristen's bio on our blog, follow her on Twitter @KristenMagnacca, and Like her on Facebook!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Episode 25: Amy Demma, Reproductive Law Attorney, Discusses Egg Donation and Surrogacy
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
February 4th
Our first live show of the 2014 season will feature guest host, Amy Demma, Esq., from The Law Offices of Amy Demma to talk about egg donation and legal issues pertaining to egg donation. The show will air live Wednesday, February 5th at 7pm (PST) on BlogTalkRadio. The episode will be available shortly thereafter for on demand access via BlogTalkRadio and on the LA Surro Center YouTube channel.
For more information on Amy Demma, please Like and Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. And don't forget to tune in this Wednesday!
For more information on Amy Demma, please Like and Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. And don't forget to tune in this Wednesday!
Monday, February 3, 2014
Episode 24: "Breeders: A Sublass of Women" A Documentary Which Knows Nothing About Surrogacy
"Breeders: A Subclass of Women"
This "documentary" with a controversial title is the focus of the premiere episode of the 2014 season of the ABC's of Surrogacy, and the subject of this week's blog. Listen and read along as Dawn relays her thoughts on the film and highlights the most dangerous aspects of the film in general: it's misinformation.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
"Breeders: A Subclass Of Women", A Documentary Which Knows Nothing About Surrogacy
by Dawn Marmorstein
When I hear the term “Breeders,” I automatically think of that friend or relative that looks at you and announces she is pregnant again for the third, fourth or fifth time. The documentary “Breeders: A Subclass of Women” takes a cheap, unresearched shot at the surrogacy industry and globally refers to surrogate mothers as “Breeders.” This newly-released documentary, created by the Center for Bioethics and Culture, takes the most extreme three cases of surrogacy and one case of co-parenting gone wrong, and attempts to make a gross generalization that the experiences of these four surrogate’s is identical to those of every surrogate mother. But the unfortunate reality of this mischaracterization is that this documentary would be more appropriately titled “I Attempted Surrogacy Independently Without Any Formal Oversight By Professionals, and This Is What Happens If You Make The Same Mistakes I Did.”
Agencies, other professionals and everyone else in surrogacy industry should use this documentary to encourage recipient parents and surrogate moms to hire agencies and the necessary professionals to have a successful surrogacy journey because if they don’t, these are the types of situations which can arise. In two of the stories depicted, one surrogate carried for her brother, and the other involved some undefined adult relationship, with the surrogate carrier never having given birth previously. Both of them were well over 40 years of age, and one of them was clearly obese and had some type of relationship with the recipient parent, with discussions of her being a stay at home mom of the child while the recipient parent worked. If there was legitimate surrogacy agency oversight or other oversight by professionals who knew what makes a women suitable to be a surrogate mother, neither of these women would have come close to passing any of the psychological or medical screenings a surrogate mother routinely undergoes. Of course, due to both of the women’s advance age during pregnancy, they were each high risk, resulting in both suffering pregnancy complications. But this is completely irrelevant to them being surrogates. Any woman who becomes pregnant runs the risk of developing complications during pregnancy. This is a known fact. One of the female surrogate mothers even said quote, “We thought everything would go well, but the babies were born two weeks premature.”
Huh? Most doctors agree baby can be born at anytime between 37 and 40 weeks. The above statement clearly shows that the producers of this documentary were looking for sensational soundbites merely to irk those who aren’t familiar with childbirth. Anybody familiar with pregnancy duration know that statement, in itself, is ignorant.
Of the other two surrogates targeted in this documentary, one did gestational surrogacy independently -- but without a contract numerous times, without any psychological evaluation, and without any discussion on how the surrogate or parents would feel if the child had genetic issues. This last omission was critical, as an issue arose when an ultrasound determined that the baby the surrogate was carrying had significant genetic abnormalities. This happened not once but several times with two different set of recipient parents. If the recipient parents had hired proper professionals to screen the surrogate mother, and if she had the proper medical and psychological screenings, these issues would have been addressed long before she was matched and becoming pregnant.
Again another appropriate title for documentary would be I was surrogate without proper legal, psychological or medical screening and I had a bad experiences multiple times. The other case was Traditional Surrogacy where the surrogate mother is also the child’s biological mother. Most states have a legal ban on traditional surrogacy and very few agencies or other professionals will take a traditional surrogacy case. The main reason is since the surrogate mother is the child’s biological mother she automatically has legal rights to the child because shes its birth mother just like she is in adoption. If a women is going to be a traditional surrogate it’s important that a woman understand she is going to be that child’s biological mother and she will not be raising the child prior to her becoming pregnant. Its also very important that the necessary psychological testing be completed to makes sure she understands what she is agreeing too this was clearly a step which was missing from this story in the movie it was very clear that the women had not had proper psychological counseling or testing and clearly didn’t understand what she was agreeing too prior to becoming pregnant.
After seeing this documentary, it is very clear that the people who created this documentary utterly failed to do their research on the surrogacy industry. There was not a single professional who worked for an agency, not a reproductive lawyer, no one who could properly explain the surrogacy process, and shed light on why each step is an essential component of that process which should never be skipped. After all, surrogacy creates babies, and good parenting starts prior to conception. if you're going to become a parent through surrogacy, you can not afford to take any shortcuts or skip critical legal contracts or screening procedures. Doing so results in the outrageous outcomes portrayed in this documentary. If you choose not to do your own due diligence and follow an established protocol using the requisite professional, your story will be leaked to the world via pseudo-documentary films like “Breeders” which present a very one-dimensional and inaccurate view of the world of surrogacy. Remember, the media’s job is to attract viewership, readership, and attention from the masses, and the typical, successful and squishy surrogacy stories which unfold each day don’t sell.
Thats why all the positive surrogacy stories are typically and routinely omitted from the media. What the media feeds on are stories like those showcased in documentaries like “Breeders.” But these nightmarish scenarios only play out when a recipient parent chooses to go online to find a surrogate mother, and then chooses to skip all of the steps necessary to determine whether or not that surrogate mother is the right choice. Whether its skipping the legal contracts where the surrogate mother and recipient parents are advised individually of their respective legal rights under a surrogacy agreement, or whether the recipient parents don’t require the surrogate to undergo a formal psychological evaluation, the end result is precisely what ultimately transpires in this documentary: Disputes arise that could have been resolved prior to the surrogacy even commencing, but too late because a baby has already been born. That’s the newsworthy event that is highlighted on the evening news. But rarely does any of the good that often comes from a surrogacy journey make headlines.
When I hear the term “Breeders,” I automatically think of that friend or relative that looks at you and announces she is pregnant again for the third, fourth or fifth time. The documentary “Breeders: A Subclass of Women” takes a cheap, unresearched shot at the surrogacy industry and globally refers to surrogate mothers as “Breeders.” This newly-released documentary, created by the Center for Bioethics and Culture, takes the most extreme three cases of surrogacy and one case of co-parenting gone wrong, and attempts to make a gross generalization that the experiences of these four surrogate’s is identical to those of every surrogate mother. But the unfortunate reality of this mischaracterization is that this documentary would be more appropriately titled “I Attempted Surrogacy Independently Without Any Formal Oversight By Professionals, and This Is What Happens If You Make The Same Mistakes I Did.”
Agencies, other professionals and everyone else in surrogacy industry should use this documentary to encourage recipient parents and surrogate moms to hire agencies and the necessary professionals to have a successful surrogacy journey because if they don’t, these are the types of situations which can arise. In two of the stories depicted, one surrogate carried for her brother, and the other involved some undefined adult relationship, with the surrogate carrier never having given birth previously. Both of them were well over 40 years of age, and one of them was clearly obese and had some type of relationship with the recipient parent, with discussions of her being a stay at home mom of the child while the recipient parent worked. If there was legitimate surrogacy agency oversight or other oversight by professionals who knew what makes a women suitable to be a surrogate mother, neither of these women would have come close to passing any of the psychological or medical screenings a surrogate mother routinely undergoes. Of course, due to both of the women’s advance age during pregnancy, they were each high risk, resulting in both suffering pregnancy complications. But this is completely irrelevant to them being surrogates. Any woman who becomes pregnant runs the risk of developing complications during pregnancy. This is a known fact. One of the female surrogate mothers even said quote, “We thought everything would go well, but the babies were born two weeks premature.”
Huh? Most doctors agree baby can be born at anytime between 37 and 40 weeks. The above statement clearly shows that the producers of this documentary were looking for sensational soundbites merely to irk those who aren’t familiar with childbirth. Anybody familiar with pregnancy duration know that statement, in itself, is ignorant.
Of the other two surrogates targeted in this documentary, one did gestational surrogacy independently -- but without a contract numerous times, without any psychological evaluation, and without any discussion on how the surrogate or parents would feel if the child had genetic issues. This last omission was critical, as an issue arose when an ultrasound determined that the baby the surrogate was carrying had significant genetic abnormalities. This happened not once but several times with two different set of recipient parents. If the recipient parents had hired proper professionals to screen the surrogate mother, and if she had the proper medical and psychological screenings, these issues would have been addressed long before she was matched and becoming pregnant.
Again another appropriate title for documentary would be I was surrogate without proper legal, psychological or medical screening and I had a bad experiences multiple times. The other case was Traditional Surrogacy where the surrogate mother is also the child’s biological mother. Most states have a legal ban on traditional surrogacy and very few agencies or other professionals will take a traditional surrogacy case. The main reason is since the surrogate mother is the child’s biological mother she automatically has legal rights to the child because shes its birth mother just like she is in adoption. If a women is going to be a traditional surrogate it’s important that a woman understand she is going to be that child’s biological mother and she will not be raising the child prior to her becoming pregnant. Its also very important that the necessary psychological testing be completed to makes sure she understands what she is agreeing too this was clearly a step which was missing from this story in the movie it was very clear that the women had not had proper psychological counseling or testing and clearly didn’t understand what she was agreeing too prior to becoming pregnant.
After seeing this documentary, it is very clear that the people who created this documentary utterly failed to do their research on the surrogacy industry. There was not a single professional who worked for an agency, not a reproductive lawyer, no one who could properly explain the surrogacy process, and shed light on why each step is an essential component of that process which should never be skipped. After all, surrogacy creates babies, and good parenting starts prior to conception. if you're going to become a parent through surrogacy, you can not afford to take any shortcuts or skip critical legal contracts or screening procedures. Doing so results in the outrageous outcomes portrayed in this documentary. If you choose not to do your own due diligence and follow an established protocol using the requisite professional, your story will be leaked to the world via pseudo-documentary films like “Breeders” which present a very one-dimensional and inaccurate view of the world of surrogacy. Remember, the media’s job is to attract viewership, readership, and attention from the masses, and the typical, successful and squishy surrogacy stories which unfold each day don’t sell.
Thats why all the positive surrogacy stories are typically and routinely omitted from the media. What the media feeds on are stories like those showcased in documentaries like “Breeders.” But these nightmarish scenarios only play out when a recipient parent chooses to go online to find a surrogate mother, and then chooses to skip all of the steps necessary to determine whether or not that surrogate mother is the right choice. Whether its skipping the legal contracts where the surrogate mother and recipient parents are advised individually of their respective legal rights under a surrogacy agreement, or whether the recipient parents don’t require the surrogate to undergo a formal psychological evaluation, the end result is precisely what ultimately transpires in this documentary: Disputes arise that could have been resolved prior to the surrogacy even commencing, but too late because a baby has already been born. That’s the newsworthy event that is highlighted on the evening news. But rarely does any of the good that often comes from a surrogacy journey make headlines.
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