Pride Angel

A television production company has contacted Pride Angel. They are keen to talk to anyone considering any method of assisted conception for the first time.

They are currently researching the subject for a new documentary and would like to speak to anyone who is willing to discuss their situation, their hopes and their fears.

If you are interested and would like further information, contact Influential Media via email at info@influential.tv. or alternatively contact Erika at info@prideangel.com

Low sperm counts and reduced male fertility may be making it even harder for couples to conceive and be contributing to low birth rates in many countries, reveals a new European Science Foundation (ESF) report launching at a meeting in Paris.

More than 10% of couples worldwide are infertile, contributing to the growing demand for assisted reproduction techniques such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for which Robert G. Edwards won the Nobel Prize in Medicine last month.

Sperm counts have dropped significantly in the last 50 years in developed countries. Today, at least one in five 18-25 year old men in Europe have semen quality in subfertile range. Testosterone levels are also declining. This is mirrored by increasing testicular cancer in most industrialised countries and more developmental abnormalities such as undescended testes. All of these factors are linked to reduced fertility and may have common origins during foetal development.

“The important impact of men’s reproductive health on a couple’s fertility is often overlooked,” said Professor Niels Skakkebæk from the University of Copenhagen, who co-authored the report. “Women postponing motherhood have reduced fertility, and we now see that poor sperm may be making it even harder to conceive. While poor sperm may be part of the reason more couples are using IVF it may also be making those therapies less successful.”

Skakkebæk continues: “We need a common strategy in Europe to target research so we can address the poor state of men’s reproductive health. That this decrease in male reproductive health has occurred in just a few decades suggests it’s caused by environmental and lifestyle factors rather than genetics. So it is preventable if we correctly identify the causes.”

In men some lifestyle factors such as obesity and smoking can affect sperm counts, but the effects are small. In contrast, if women smoke heavily in pregnancy, a much larger fall in sperm count is likely in their sons when they grow up. Testosterone levels naturally drop as men age, which may predispose men to cardiovascular and metabolic health problems that pose large financial and healthcare issues for national governments. Low sperm counts and low testosterone levels are both associated with increased risk of early death for men.

The Science Policy Briefing ‘Male Reproductive Health’ is a comprehensive insight into male reproductive health with detailed research policy recommendations. It is available online www.esf.org/publications

The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an independent, non-governmental organisation that promotes collaboration in scientific research, funding of research and science policy across Europe. Its members are 79 national funding and research-performing organisations and learned societies from 30 countries.

Article: 29th November 2010 www.esf.org

Read more about Male sperm count tests and Male fertility kits.

Kiwis who've struggled to conceive are up in arms over ASB's new ad offering loans for IVF treatment. But why do would-be parents have to pay in the first place? Adam Dudding reports.

WHEN HE first saw the slickly sentimental new ad from ASB bank offering loans for fertility treatment, Roger Gray was ironing his work shirts. He was so shocked he almost dropped the iron.

"I thought it was disgusting," says the Auckland father-of-three, two of whose children were born with the help of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). "To me, it was exploitative of people who are in a desperate situation."

Gray and his wife went through their fertility treatment in Australia, where couples receive government subsidies that slash the cost of IVF to around $2000 per "cycle" for an unlimited number of cycles. In New Zealand would-be parents are fully funded for just one or two attempts, the waiting lists can be long, and eligibility depends on a stringent set of criteria. And outside the public system, they face spending $10,000-$12,000 of their own money per attempt. Private health insurers don't cover IVF (except, curiously, through one scheme offered only to employees of NZ Police).

"The government system here of restricting the number of opportunities to publicly fund IVF is not good," said Gray. "And then ASB is taking advantage of this to make money out of desperate people. I think it showed the worst side of banking."

Gray was just one of several parents with an insider's knowledge of fertility treatment who told the Sunday Star-Times they were uneasy, or even angry, about the 60-second IVF ad, in which a photogenically mopey couple struggling to conceive sell their vintage car to fund IVF, and then when that fails borrow ASB money for another cycle which culminates in triplets. The ad, which ASB says is based on the "real life" experiences of customers, is part of a major rebranding of the bank that seems set on portraying ASB not so much as a large Australian bank that lends and borrows money in exchange for interest, but as a quasi-benevolent organisation focused on "creating futures", and perhaps creating the odd set of triplets.

By Thursday afternoon, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) had received seven complaints about the ad, which first screened last Sunday, on the grounds that it was socially irresponsible, exploited a vulnerable audience or encouraged an unrealistic expectation of a successful outcome to fertility treatment.

Those are exactly the points that make Gray so angry. His family had the good fortune to get their IVF for free and to get the desired outcome, but "too many people I know don't succeed first time round", and chasing that success can be almost addictive, creating a mindset of "we can just do another $15,000; one more chance darling".

"What upset me about the ad is that people will see it and think it'll be one cycle, but then it'll be two, and then three and four, and suddenly they've got $100,000 owing, and the banks won't be giving them any leeway."

New Auckland mother Hinemoa, 37, who had her first child this year after two cycles of IVF over two-and-a-half years, was concerned at the glibly upbeat outcome to the ASB ad.

Last week, with the gurgle of her baby daughter in the background, she told the Star-Times she and her partner spent around $5000 of their own money on complementary treatments alongside $20,000-worth of state-funded fertility treatment. Even though it hadn't got to the point where they needed to start borrowing money, going through IVF was still "the hardest thing I've ever done".

For Hinemoa, the worst moment was finding out that, after the failure of the first round, they would need to use a donor egg, and she would be bearing a child not genetically related to her. "There were lots of tears, and lots of counselling and lots of support from both our families. It was two years of hell that I'd hate to go through again." And naturally, a 60-second ad for a bank can't begin to reflect the "absolute rollercoaster of emotions" of that time.

There is one positive though, says Hinemoa. The ad is making IVF topical, and she believes putting discussion of fertility treatment on the agenda is probably a good thing.

Mary Birdsall, Auckland medical director of leading fertility clinic Fertility Associates, is delighted the ad is bringing the subject out into the open. About 900 IVF babies are born in New Zealand each year, approximately 1.5% of total newborns. "It's OK to talk about IVF. Practically one child in every classroom is an IVF child."

Fertility Associates performs around 60% of New Zealand's IVF treatments, and while the subject is in the spotlight, Birdsall is happy to hammer home once more what she and other fertility clinicians have been saying for years: there should be more state funding.

Since 2004 the state has funded up to two rounds of IVF (it was previously only one) per couple; Birdsall would like to see that lifted to three. She would also like to see money spent shortening the waiting lists. This isn't just commercial self-interest: fertility plummets from the mid-30s, and a wait of 12 to 18 months can badly lengthen the odds against successful conception.

For the same reason, Birdsall wants to see a loosening of eligibility criteria: couples with "unexplained" infertility must demonstrate they've been trying naturally for five years. Considering that a woman's chance of conception per IVF round plummet from 40% at age 35 to 23% at age 40, that seems a punitively long wait.

LAST WEEK Health Minister Tony Ryall said in a statement: "The government would like to do more, but at this stage we don't have the financial resources available". It's the identical response given to the Star-Times for an article in August last year. The ministry couldn't provide a national figure as funding is devolved to health boards but Birdsall says the government spends about $13 million on fertility per year, including IVF.

Although Birdsall is happy ASB is raising IVF awareness, she does have one major gripe: the fact that the lucky couple in the ad end up with triplets.

Implantation of multiple embryos increases the odds of at least one test-tube baby taking hold in the womb, but often leads to multiple births. This approach is falling out of favour, because multiple-baby pregnancies lead to riskier births and worse health outcomes for the babies.

"New Zealand clinics have led the southern hemisphere around moves to single-embryo transfers," says Birdsall, so when the ASB showed her a preview of the ad she was "horrified", and asked them if they'd consider refilming it, to no avail.

The bank, meanwhile, doesn't see a problem with its new ad. Deborah Simpson, brand communication manager, says the idea for "normalising" loans to pay for private fertility treatment came up during the recent rebranding exercise, when bank staff talked about their interactions with customers. Several staff reported customers seeking loans for IVF, and the ad is an amalgam of those reports.

A press release from ASB boasts the entire series of new ads, which are rolling out over the coming months, are "based on real-life personal stories'. So how real-life is this story? Was there a real customer who sold a vintage car to pay for IVF? Was there one who paid for a failed IVF cycle then succeeded after borrowing ASB money? Was there a customer who got triplets? No, no and, erm, no, says Simpson. The advertising company exercised its "creative licence".

So isn't this just, as Roger Gray believes, cynical exploitation of emotional pain to sell vulnerable people a new line of debt?

No, says Simpson. The ASB takes its relationship with customers seriously, and "this is something we want to help people with... we want to give people permission to come and talk to us about these things if they're not already."

If people follow the prompting of the ad they may indeed be taking on new debt, but if they need IVF and can't get the state funding and don't have the money up front, borrowing is an option. And without such a loan, says Simpson, "they can't do it at all".

She says there have been a "tiny" number of complaints to the bank about the ad, but those have been outnumbered by positive responses.

The subject of IVF is "very emotional", and the IVF story told in the ad is "beautiful", says Simpson.

"But certainly, we recognise that not all of them have happy endings".

THE INS AND OUTS OF IVF LOANS

What is an ASB IVF loan? ASB is offering unsecured loans for IVF at a rate of 13.95% rather than the usual rate of 17.95%, and a discounted application fee. Existing mortgage customers, however, will be better off to simply top up their mortgage. Do I get my money back if I don't have a baby? No, you still have to pay it back one day, regardless of outcome. The bank already lends money for IVF; the new ad seeks merely to "normalise" the idea. Where else can I get an IVF loan? Medical loans specialist Nova (www.nova.co.nz) offers unsecured loans at rates around 14.75% plus fees. Any bank should lend you money for anything you like, as long as you can cover repayments, but ASB is believed to be the only bank actively marketing around IVF.

Article: 27th November 2010 Sunday Star Times

Read more about IVF, sperm donation and co-parenting at www.prideangel.com

Infertility is probably the last thing on teenage boys' minds. However, a new study out of Brazil suggests that early treatment of a common testicular condition could preserve future fatherhood potential for some adolescents.

A varicocele is a widening of the veins in the scrotum, which house the testicles. While frequently harmless, varicoceles can cause pain, testicular shrinkage and, over time, can potentially lead to lower sperm counts and quality.

The condition, which is similar to varicose veins, is estimated to affect 15 percent of men over 15. But it is found in more than a third of men being assessed for primary infertility -- an inability to biologically father a child -- and 80 percent of secondary infertility cases -- men who were once able to father a child but are not able to do so anymore.

Although varicoceles may not be the sole cause of infertility in all those cases, the close association with infertility and apparent worsening of the effect over time suggest early surgical correction of the flawed veins could have important benefits later on, the authors note.

"Because varicocele is a progressive disease, we want to know how soon we can intervene, especially because it does not cause infertility in all men," researcher Paula Toni Del Giudice of Sao Paulo Federal University, in Brazil, told Reuters Health in an e-mail. "Surgical intervention is not for everyone."

Del Giudice and her colleagues studied 21 boys between the ages of 15 and 19. They collected two semen samples before surgical correction of the varicoceles and another two samples at least three months after the varicocelectomy.

The team reports in the journal Fertility and Sterility that two important indicators of the sperm's functional health -- the integrity of the sperm cells' DNA and the activity of internal energy generators called mitochondria -- significantly improved after the surgery.

"Surgical intervention in adolescents indicated for varicocelectomy does improve sperm functional traits that are associated with infertility in adults, so there is an important benefit in performing this surgery," said Del Giudice.

The decision of whether or not to proceed with a varicocelectomy is typically based on testicular volume, or how much smaller the affected testicle is compared to the other, as well as a conventional analysis of semen quantity and quality.

The new study's additional measures of sperm damage "could represent another consideration when counseling patients and parents on whether to perform," Dr. Eric Seaman of the Urology Group of New Jersey, in West Orange, told Reuters Health.

Further, the surgery poses very little risk, according to Seaman, aside from the possibility of bleeding or infection that comes with any surgery. There is a small chance that a patient could also experience some uncomfortable post-operative fluid retention around the testicle, he said.

The total costs of undergoing a varicocelectomy, including hospital services and anesthesia, runs a few thousand dollars and is typically covered by insurance.

Still, Seaman does not suggest that parents need to rush their teenage sons into surgery. "If it sits a month, nothing will happen," he said. "A year could be another story."

"We feel that all young boys should be referred to an urologist for a full clinical evaluation, just as girls are referred to their gynecologists," added Del Giudice. "Not all adolescents will have a varicocele, and not all adolescents with a varicocele will need an operation."

Article: Fertility and Sterility, Nov 2010

Read more about our Male Fertility Kit and Sperm Count Test, available from our Pride Angel Shop

More than five dozen shots a month, lots of heartbreak, and a devastating miscarriage. That's what E! News host Giuliana Rancic, 36, has endured so far in her quest to become a mother.

Rancic told UsMagazine.com that her IVF fertility treatments include 63 injections per month.

Is there some point at which a couple should be told that enough's enough, and the IVF treatments called off?

"There's no set formula," says Dr. Helen Kim, director of in vitro fertilization at the University of Chicago. "It's very individual, but success does seem to taper off, and if a woman hasn't gotten pregnant after her third cycle, she's certainly less likely to get pregnant with IVF."

In the Rancics' case, which the couple has chronicled on their reality show, "Giuliana & Bill," the miscarriage came after they had been trying to conceive for a year.

Rancic had been eight weeks pregnant when she miscarried back in September.

"Both of us were in shock," Bill, 39, told People magazine. "Failure wasn't an option!"

Giuliana revealed that she was devastated and discouraged by the news. "It's not like some kinds of medicine where there is a definite end point," says Dr. Mark Sauer, professor and chief of reproductive endocrinology at Columbia University, where he also directs the IVF program. "There's an assumption that there is always something you can do for a patient, another treatment. It's hard for doctors to say they just don't know why someone is not getting pregnant."

From the woman's standpoint, the quest for motherhood can be a lonely road that she walks mostly alone. A husband may go along with the treatments and give the shots, but he is less emotionally involved since he's not the one being subjected to all the hormones, shots and ultrasounds.

"After awhile it takes its spiritual and mental toll," Sauer says. "And that is not even taking into account the cost, which is a lot."

At some point, Sauer says, IVF treatments can make a woman think of herself as "a walking egg machine."

And at that point, he suggests, it may be time to put the brakes on for awhile.

"It's time to say stop, to reclaim yourself, reconnect with your inner self and maybe just have sex for the fun of it," he said. "When things aren't going well and the woman is not getting pregnant, she becomes sad, depressed and has trouble sleeping."

Yet while an infertile couple may be ready to call it quits with treatment, others close to them may be pushing them to continue. Well meaning parents and friend of the couple may encourage them to have "just one more' IVF cycle, Sauer says.

Typically, with a younger woman – say under 36 or 37 years old – the chances of getting pregnant with IVF are about 50%, Sauer says. But, he adds, "There will always be women who can't get pregnant with anything we offer. They just don't succeed."

Article: 23rd November www.nydailynews.com

Read more about IVF. Looking for a sperm donor, egg donor or co-parent? visit www.prideangel.com

The London Women's Clinic (LWC) has reportedly received an application for fertility treatment by two gay men wanting to raise a child who wish to use one of the couple's sister as a surrogate.

Up to 30 percent of LWC's clients are lesbian couples, representing an increase of about ten percent from ten years ago, but the applications to the clinic made this week are the first to be received from a male same-sex couple. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Dr Kamal Ahuja, scientific director at LWC confirmed that the clinic's ethics committee was considering the application alongside another received from a gay couple who have also applied for treatment using a surrogate.

The LWC was one of the first clinics to admit lesbian's for donor insemination and has carried out studies demonstrating that the wellbeing of children is not compromised by the absence of a 'father figure'.

Dr Ahuja said: 'The definition of a traditional family is progressively fading. Though we had concerns some years ago, the evidence now is that we need not worry in terms of same-sex parenting'. He added: 'Families of the future may combine up to five parents. Regardless of culture, the evidence is that children adapt well and it's the quality of the nurturing environment which is important'.

The surrogacy application made to LWC is not unique in the UK. Last year it was reported that Lorna Bradley had acted as a surrogate for her brother and his partner but until recently gay couples have been said to be more likely to travel to the United States to enter into surrogacy arrangements where there is less regulation. If the application is accepted by LWC and the attempted surrogacy is successful, the couple will be among the first gay men in the UK who will both be entitled to be a named parent on the child's birth certificate since changes were made to the law in April 2010.

Article: Bionews 584 15th November

Considering surrogacy? looking to find an egg donor? visit www.prideangel.com

Children in need's mission is to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people right here in the UK. Their vision is a society where each and every child and young person is supported to realise their potential.

In 2009, The BBC Children in Need Appeal raised over £39 million which will be used to support projects across the UK and for every penny you gave the charity, a penny will go towards projects helping disadvantaged children in the UK. Children in need are able to make this promise because the charity uses its investment income and Gift Aid to cover all running costs. Every year, thanks to public donations and the amazing efforts of fundraisers, schools, businesses and their corporate partners, they are able to provide support to thousands of youngsters aged 18 and under.

Children in need provide this support in the form of grants to organisations working with children who may have experienced mental, physical or sensory disabilities; behavioural or psychological disorders; are living in poverty or situations of deprivation; or suffering through distress, abuse or neglect.

The size and scale of the BBC Children in Need Appeal means that they are able to give grants to hundreds of different organisations, some of which are very small and don't have the resources to fundraise for themselves.

The charity operates all year round, not just the months leading up to Appeal night, and their staff around the UK process thousands of applications for funding. Every year the funding requests exceed the amount of money raised so 'Children in need' carefully assess all applications to ensure that grants are targeted on areas of real need. Voluntary committee members, based in each region, draw on their expertise and local knowledge to advise our board of Trustees which projects should receive grants, and funds are allocated geographically to ensure that all corners of the UK get a share of the money raised.

Donations can be made by credit card, at your local post office, by post, bank, building society or simply using PayPal

Between 20 and 30 percent of women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures suffer from significant symptoms of depression. Many practitioners believe that the hormone therapy involved in IVF procedures is primarily responsible for this. But new research from Tel Aviv University shows that, while this is true, other factors are even more influential.

According to Dr. Miki Bloch of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, stress, pre-existing depression, and anxiety are more likely than hormone therapy to impact a woman's depression levels when undergoing IVF. Combined, these factors may also affect IVF success rates - so diagnosis and treatment of this depression is very important.

Recently reported in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility, Dr. Bloch's research clarifies the involvement of different hormonal states as triggers for depression during IVF, both for long- and short-term protocols.

The long and short stories
In the long-term IVF protocol, explains Dr. Bloch, women receive injections which block ovulation, resulting in a sharp decline in estrogen and progesterone levels. This state continues for a two-week period before the patient is injected with hormones to stimulate ovulation, at which point the eggs are harvested and fertilized before being replanted into the womb. The short-term IVF protocol, on the other hand, does not include the initial two-week period of induction of a low hormonal state.

Some gynaecologists believe that depression is more likely when a woman undergoes long-term IVF therapy because of those first two weeks of hormonal repression. But Dr. Bloch's research has demonstrated that the difference between the two different procedures is negligible - depression and anxiety rates for women who undergo the long protocol and those who undergo the short are exactly the same.

Dr. Bloch and his fellow researchers conducted a random assignment study, in which 108 women who came to the Sourasky Medical Center for IVF were randomly assigned to either the long- or short-term protocol. They were given questionnaires and interviews at the start of the therapy and at four other points during the IVF treatment.

The results, says Dr. Bloch, show consistently increasing depression rates among patients in both groups, irrespective of which protocol they underwent. The first two weeks of hormonal repression, he explains, thus have no impact on whether a woman experiences depression during IVF. "Once the patient begins ovulating, her estrogen rises to high levels. Then, after the ovum is replanted in her uterus, there is a precipitous drop in these hormonal levels," he explains. It's the severity of the estrogen drop, a feature of both protocols, that was found to affect the patient's emotional state.

Preventing stress in susceptible women
Whatever the specific effect of hormones, during their study Dr. Bloch and his fellow researchers discovered that the stress and anxiety experienced during the treatment has a significant impact on patient depression rates. When compared to a "normal" population, women undergoing IVF experience very high levels of anxiety and depression even before the treatment begins. As the protocol advances, explains Dr. Bloch, women experience increased anxiety about the success of the implantation.

Women who have a previous history of anxiety or depression disorders before the IVF treatment are even more susceptible, he says. This is likely due to the fact that these women are more emotionally vulnerable to the toll of the IVF process rather then increased reactivity to changing hormonal levels, Dr. Bloch says.

Choosing the right protocol
When it comes to depression rates, the type of protocol a patient undergoes, whether short-term or long-term, has no impact, Dr. Bloch concluded. The combination of the stress surrounding the treatment, a personal history of psychiatric disorders, and a sharp decline in estrogen levels are the main contributing factors towards depression during IVF therapy. While doctors should look at their patient's individual needs when deciding on an IVF protocol, the current report suggests the type of protocol per se is not an important factor in the induction of depression.

Article: 11th Novemeber 2010 www.medicalnewstoday.com
George Hunka, American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Read more about IVF and Homeopathy for infertility, pregnancy and depression.

Many more women are turning to sperm donor websites to find donors or co-parents, fuelled by the shortage of donors within the UK, along with many NHS authorities cutting back on IVF treatment. Pride Angel reports on the increasing demand by both lesbian couples and single women for ‘gay sperm donors’.

Their study looked at the number of recipients looking for gay men from their database of over 4500 members. Of the 4500 members 64% are women looking for ‘sperm donors’, with only 16% registered as ‘sperm donors’. This shows a huge shortage in the number of willing donors, compared to the demand. They found that of those recipients who requested ‘looking for’ in their profile, 51% are looking for a ‘gay single man’, with 31% looking for a ‘gay couple’. In contrast, of the registered sperm donors only 23% record themselves as ‘gay’ within their profiles. 53% of sperm donors request ‘looking for’ a single woman, with 33% ‘looking for’ a lesbian couple to donate to.

Why are lesbian and single women looking for gay donors rather than heterosexual men? There may be many reasons for this preference. Erika co-founder of Pride Angel says ‘Many women are wishing to find genuine gay men, either single or in a couple, who are willing to co-parent or donate sperm with some form of on-going contact’ ‘This may be because they feel that gay men may be more sensitive or caring, or easier to co-parent with’. ‘We would really like to see far more gay men coming forward to donate sperm.’

Pride Angel also looked at data received from a questionnaire undertaken by people attending the Manchester Pride’s Lifestyle Expo in August 2010. The questionnaire was completed by 150 people and requested individual views on ‘the level of contact’ they felt the donor should have with any child conceived from known donor conception. The results were very interesting and showed that the vast majority of people did wish for their child to have some form of ongoing contact with their donor, only 26% of women and 20% of men thought that any donation should be anonymous. 27% of women wanted some kind of active involvement from their donor, be it regular or occasional contact. In contrast 51% of men wished to have regular or occasional contact with their donor child. A significant number of women 31%, wanted for their child to be able to contact their donor if needed while growing up.

Some gay men may wish to donate simply to ‘pass on their genes’ and help a lesbian couple or single woman experience the joy of parenthood. Other gay men may like to be more involved, either seeing their child occasionally like an ‘uncle type’ figure or wishing to share parental responsibility by entering into a co-parenting arrangement. Whatever the level of involvement a donor wishes; there are many women who are looking for the same form of arrangement.

Pride Angel is the leading parenting connection sites aimed towards the LGBT community wishing to become parents. For more information on donating sperm, co-parenting, health screening and legal agreements visit www.prideangel.com

A lesbian couple who had conceived a child together through donor insemination at a UK clinic recently ended up in the High Court after their relationship broke down. Their dispute involved a ten-year-old child, and the issue was whether the non-birth mother (who the court had already given legal decision-making status as a parent) should be ordered to make financial provision for her child.

The story itself of course isn't that unusual - parents separate and divorce all the time and many end up in court arguing over contact or finances. What makes this case interesting is the family was created through fertility treatment and the partner pursued for maintenance was not the biological mother.

The court had to ask whether the lesbian non-birth mother was legally a 'parent' and - specifically - whether her full hands-on parenting involvement in her child's life was enough to make her financially responsible, even though she was not the biological mother.

The answer seems pretty straightforward from a moral perspective. The non-birth mother had been fully involved in her child's care and upbringing, had regular contact with her child, and had successfully (and not long before) applied to court for joint residence and parental responsibility. The law recognised her as a parent for the purposes of decision making and there was no legal father since the child was conceived with anonymous donor sperm.

The child would have only one parent (the birth mother) and considerably less financial security if the non-birth mother was not financially responsible. As the birth mother's lawyers argued in court, it would be 'grotesque' for the court to decide the non-birth mother should not have to maintain a child she had helped bring into the world and was actively parenting.

The law is not always fair. The rules on financial responsibility say explicitly only a legal 'parent' can be ordered to pay. These rules are more black and white than those on matters of contact and parental decision-making, where the family courts often have discretion to act in the best interests of a child.

The High Court ultimately decided it had no power to make the non-birth mother financially responsible, because she was not a biological parent nor otherwise a parent-by-law (she had not, for example, adopted the child). The courts' powers could be invoked to protect her contact and relationship with her child, but not to hold her financially responsible.

One peculiarity of the case is the non-birth mother would have full legal and financial responsibility if she was a man. Since 1991, the law has made special provision for fathers who conceive with donor sperm. They have the same rights and responsibilities as any other father, provided they are married or undergo fertility treatment with their partner. The law is designed to ensure fathers gain full status and recognition as parents, and to prevent them evading their financial responsibilities.

The same is now true for lesbian partners, but only for children conceived after April 2009. There was much fuss in 2008 when Parliament debated new legal rights for lesbian parents. Certain people said enabling a non-birth mother to be named on a birth certificate made it a statement of fiction not a record of fact, and was just political correctness. Yet this change made non-birth mothers legally and financially responsible for their children.

What this case shows is how important those legal changes are, not just for lesbian parents, but for their children. Birth certificates are not merely a record of biology, but are important documents which record legal parenthood status and responsibility. The changes to the law giving lesbian couples joint parenthood from conception benefit children, because they give them two parents who can be held legally accountable where they would previously have one.

The changes were not, however, retrospective. The children of lesbian couples conceived before April 2009 - like the child in this case - may continue to have a parent without legal status and responsibility, unless the family takes positive action to secure their legal position (which can be done through adoption).

It is a shame for this family that it took so long for the law to recognise not all parents through sperm donation are heterosexual and recent improvements only apply prospectively. Looking forwards, we should celebrate our modern fertility laws and their recognition of diverse modern families. We may be leading the world in allowing two mothers to be named on a birth certificate but, as this case shows, it ensures that children are better protected.

Article: by Natalie Gamble, Partner at Gamble and Ghevaert LLP www.gambleandghevaert.com

Lesbian? looking for a sperm donor or co-parent? visit www.prideangel.com