I am a gay physician who is pursuing surrogacy with my husband, and I was also raised Catholic. The Pope’s condemnation of surrogacy for assisted reproduction this week affected me more than I would have expected. In this article, I discuss the Church’s historic antagonism with science, the Church’s focus on reproductive technology, and how far removed the Pope’s statements are from the reality of surrogacy in the United States.

This continuation of the BabyMoon Family journal club explores the largest sample of gestational carriers (GCs) and investigates their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. What was it like to be a GC during the pandemic, and what can be done to improve the experience going forward? This article discusses the results and implications of this first-of-its-kind study.

Gestational carriers (GCs) are the limiting factor for any surrogacy journey. They are incredible, and they are also incredibly rare. What are the qualifications required to become a GC? And, using these criteria, about how many American women would qualify to become a GC? We go through the numbers in this article to come up with a general rough estimate of the number of women who would qualify and want to be a GC.

Ireland is working to propose a new piece of legislation that will regulate international surrogacy for Irish IPs. These recommendations come from the Irish Joint Committee on International Surrogacy, and in this article, I will review the positive and challenging aspects of the recommendations, as well as discuss the potential implications for international surrogacy in Ireland, the EU, and the world.

Recent experiments with mice have allowed two male mice to have genetically related offspring. This process is called in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG. This article discusses how IVG works, the results of the IVG experiments in mice, when IVG could be used in humans, and what this could mean for same sex couples and assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the future.

What’s it like picking an egg donor? This article is about the challenges and process that my husband and I have undertaken in approaching our selection of an egg donor. Choosing an egg donor is an exciting and important step in anyone’s journey to fatherhood through IVF and surrogacy, and I hope this article is helpful for anyone embarking on this stage.

Intravaginal culture (IVC) and ‘shared motherhood’ through a novel technology called INVOcell allows lesbian mothers-to-be to each carry their child. How does IVC work? Is IVC as good as IVF? What are the benefits and challenges of IVC? All these questions are answered in this article.

Many international intended parents (IPs) pay their hospital bill for their newborn in the United States with cash. What can they expect the bill to cost? How do they navigate the bill and negotiate with the hospital? Are there resources to help with this process? All this and more in this original BabyMoon Family article.

New scientific research shows that gay parents outperform straight parents in terms of health and well-being of the children, coparenting, and the overall dynamics of the family. In our first BabyMoon Family journal club, I review the study in this article.

How do men of the LGBTQ+ community identify? And how does this affect building a brand and business for them? This article discusses the challenges I have had to be both specific and inclusive in building BabyMoon Family.

Fertility benefits should be for everyone. This is a background on fertility insurance and benefits in the United States, and how I am working to extend benefits offered through my company to employees in over 100 countries outside the United States.

The ultimate vision for BabyMoon Family is a comprehensive reproductive center for all queer people, by queer people, leveraging the amazing LGBTQ+ community to make rainbow families a reality. This would be the world’s first queer reproductive center, but how would it work? Read more here.

Gestational carriers (GCs) are incredible. However, who are the women who do this? This article attempts to describe the persona and motivations for these amazing women to become GCs. Queer men would not be able to become biological parents without them, and so we are forever indebted to their partnership on this journey.

What is it like to donate your eggs or ovaries? This article aims to describe this process for women, and also to provide more understanding and empathy for intended parents (IPs). It’s important to know medical details and challenges that women go through in order to make the incredible donation of ovaries.

The ‘Pod Generation’ is a movie that dives into the not-to-distant future to explore what it would be like to have a child through an artificial womb, or pod. How close are we to this technology? In this article, I dive into the most recent science to see when (not if, because they will be developed) artificial wombs would become a reality. It’s an amazing field of research, and artificial wombs would be a game changer for queer men having babies.

Continuing on our personal journey to fatherhood, my husband and I traveled from Stockholm to Los Angeles to our fertility clinic. This article describes the physical exam, lab testing, and all important sperm deposit. What is it like to masturbate in a clinic and give a sperm sample? If you ever wanted to know, read on.

Having a baby is a big deal for anyone. However, having a baby as a queer man adds another layer to the process, but what can queer men do in order to mentally prepare for having a baby? Psychologists have devised ‘psychological labor’ to describe the preparation that men can undergo to have a baby. Read this article to learn more.

The worst thing that could happen with regard to surrogacy has happened in Greece. An IVF clinic and agency has exploited women in Ukraine, Romania, and Georgia. This is horrible. Unfortunately, it is exactly what fuels the anti-surrogacy movement. However, there is a way to perform surrogacy with significant regulations and oversight that leads to a beautiful journey of family creation. Hopefully, the world can move in a positive direction after this Greek scandal and not towards more countries banning surrogacy.

Queer intended parents (IPs) go through significant financial, emotional, and psychological challenges to have children through surrogacy. They desperately want these children. Given this, will these children grow up to be happier and have a more positive on society as a whole? This phenomenon is not new. After the passing of Roe v Wade in the U.S., children - on average - were more wanted. This led to a decrease in societal issues such as crime. Will the same be true of rainbow families?

Surrogacy has roots thousands of years deep in human history. This article takes us through Biblical times, ancient Egypt, Hammurabi, and South Asian religious beliefs to discuss how assisted reproduction and surrogacy have evolved throughout human history.