Opportunities for in vitro fertilization limited in state
Posted on Sunday, August 5, 2007
Arkansas laws controlling surrogacy arrangements are seen as some of the most favorable in the country, although the state has only a handful of doctors doing in vitro fertilization, a procedure that implants the parents' embryo into the surrogate mother.
Limiting options more, the state-funded University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is the only hospital in the state that does in vitro fertilization and, until recently, provided services only to married couples.
That meant couples wanting to use a single surrogate to carry their baby had to leave the state for the medical procedure. Same-sex couples using a surrogate were also out of luck.
Many in surrogate circles weren't aware that the UAMS Fertility Center abandoned the restriction three years ago with a shift in leadership. Some single surrogates were traveling to California and New Jersey, states without restrictions, to have embryos implanted.
The process is "physically and emotionally demanding, very complex and will require the full cooperation of husband and wife at all times,"a Web site for the UAMS Assisted Reproductive Technologies program still said this week.
UAMS officials recently removed that language on some other parts of the Web site.
Dr. Curtis Lowery, director of maternal-fetal medicine at UAMS, said the hospital changed its long-standing practice of treating only married couples about three years ago, when Dr. Aida Shanti joined the fertility center's staff.
"There's no policy. It's an oversight on the Web site. I'm not sure how much they enforced it before,"he said.
Lowery said there are at least two same-sex couples now going through the in vitro fertilization process at the clinic.
Gary Sullivan, a Little Rock lawyer who specializes in fertility law, said UAMS has turned away his single and gay clients and that he was never notified that the practice had changed.
Restrictions on who can receive in vitro fertilization has made the process of having children more expensive for samesex couples and married couples wanting to use single surrogates, Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who is gay, came up against the roadblock as he was trying to have his own child using a surrogate.
Sullivan's daughter, LeslieJo, was born from a gestational surrogate two and a half years ago. Sullivan's sperm was used to create an embryo using a donor egg from one woman that was then implanted into a second woman.
"She's the product of many years of surrogacy attempts,"Sullivan said, looking at numerous photos on his desk of LeslieJo, a bashful child with dark curly hair who has dimples nearly identical to her father's.
Sullivan and his domestic partner worked with two egg donors and two surrogates before LeslieJo was born. They have leftover frozen embryos from the same batch that produced LeslieJo, so if they decide to have another child, she can have a biological sibling.
Although Arkansas law doesn't restrict gay couples from using a surrogate, only one name can be included on the birth certificate.
Sullivan flew his first surrogate to Boston and initially tried artificial insemination. He later flew her to New York for in vitro fertilization with embryos made from an egg donor, but the process wasn't successful.
His second surrogate became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization in New Jersey.
Both surrogates were single. Sullivan, who has represented many surrogates and prospective parents, was told that UAMS wouldn't work with homosexual or single prospective parents.
LeslieJo's surrogate mother lived in Mississippi, so Sullivan drove six hours round trip each time she had a doctor's appointment during the pregnancy. He continues to maintain regular e-mail contact with her about LeslieJo.
Cheryl Graves, a nurse at the UAMS Fertility Center, said the office turned away single patients wanting in vitro fertilization until July 1, 2004, when Shanti joined the center.
"She kindly informed us that we could not do that and that it was just a doctor's preference and not a policy,"Graves said. "She met with the staff and told us we can't be biased and not treat certain patients because of their sexual orientation."
Besides UAMS, the only other fertility clinic in the state that does in vitro fertilization is Arkansas Fertility and Gynecology Associates, also in Little Rock.
The practice, founded by the same doctors who started UAMS' fertility center, generally serves married couples. Calls to the center weren't returned, but the practice's Web site refers to "husbands"in describing the process.
Although Arkansas is one of 12 states that mandate insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization, it is the only state that limits coverage to married couples, said Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.
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