A 2020 research study interviewed 22 Swedish gay dads about their experiences with IVF and surrogacy. In this article, I review this study, compare my husband and my journey as Americans living in Sweden, and discuss how Sweden and Europe’s conception of ‘family’ is a bit outdated.

The 2024 BabyMoon Family year in review for metrics, most read articles, and a look ahead to goals for 2025.

Social surrogacy refers to a surrogacy arrangement where the female intended parent (IP) has a gestational carrier (GC) even though the female IP has no medical reason not to carry a pregnancy. A recent opinion piece was published in ASRM’s Fertility and Sterility arguing the pros and cons of having physicians engage and facilitate social surrogacies. In this article, I will review the opinion piece and share my own perspective as a gay man and physician on his own surrogacy journey.

We have officially matched with a gestational carrier! This is a momentous and incredible step in our journey to fatherhood. In this article, I will describe the matching process with our agency, the aspects to a gestational carrier (GC) relationship that are important to us, and how I felt the night before and immediately after our first meeting with the GC.

In this article, I review the opinions of reproductive lawyers from the United States, United Kingdom, and India with regard to surrogacy regulations. How can surrogacy journeys be regulated without being prohibitively restrictive? What happens when a country’s surrogacy laws are too prohibitive? What is the solution to promote ethical surrogacy around the globe?

My mom died this past week. In this article, I reflect on how my estrangement from her has affected me, the development of my ‘logical’ or chosen family, and how I now view becoming a parents myself through IVF and surrogacy.

There is little research on the women who become gestational carriers or surrogates. What is their life like? What is their educational background? Do they work? Do they keep in touch with the intended parents (IPs)? Why do they become gestational carriers? New research attempts to answer these questions, and this BabyMoon Family article reviews the results of the study and discusses implications for future research and policies related to surrogacy.

‘The Assessment’ is a new movie staring Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen set in a not too distant, dystopian future where having children has striking similarities to what queer intended parents have to go through today. In this article, I discuss these similarities, and how my husband and I experienced the movie while currently on our first journey to fatherhood through IVF and surrogacy. Warning: Movie spoilers ahead.

To any undecided U.S. voters on this eve of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, please don’t hurt queer people who only want to have a family. Don’t hurt people who come from any non-traditional family. Don’t hurt people who form their own chosen family. These families are valid.  They exist, and to deny them that existence like Trump and the Project 2025 conservatives do only serves to hurt America and the world. Please vote for Kamala Harris for president, and if you have any reservations, please read this article.

Underrepresented but growing. This summarizes the current state of medical research on queer family building from the largest U.S. conference on assisted reproduction. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) had its annual conference in Denver Colorado from October 19th to the 23rd, and there was an abstract presented that reviewed the last decade of research on LGBTQ+ family building. In this week’s BabyMoon Family article, I review the abstract and share a summary of some previous BabyMoon Family articles on other scientific publications related to rainbow families.

I love hearing about queer people creating rainbow families in any ethical way. This week, I read an article where a gay couple in Pennsylvania are pursuing their dream of fatherhood through ‘non-genetic surrogacy.’ This term meant they were leveraging embryo donation to have children. This got me thinking: How common is embryo donation? How accessible is it for queer IPs? Would my husband and I donate our unused embryos? Read more to find out.

The Dehli High Court has granted permission for parents of a deceased man to use his sperm to have a grandchild. Should this type of posthumous procreation be allowed? What are the ethical standards that we should have for this type of procreation? How could this impact assisted reproductive technology (ART) for queer intended parents? Read more to find out.

Argentina has launched an investigation in the practice of surrogacy an other assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the country, especially by foreign intended parents (IPs). In this article, I go over the current state of Argentinian regulations for ART and surrogacy, and I discuss the findings from the ongoing investigation. Will Argentina follow in the footsteps of Thailand and ban surrogacy for international IPs? How can you ensure you are embarking on an ethical surrogacy journey abroad? Read this article to find out more.

Read all about my experience of 'The Modern Family Show,' a unique rainbow family building conference in London, UK.

This weekend, I am thrilled to be attending ‘The Modern Family Show’ in London, which is a unique conference that offers educational content on all types of rainbow family creation. Some of the topics include: In vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), surrogacy, fostering, co-parenting, fertility preservation, solo parenting, and egg/sperm donation. If you are interested in attending, read more and use the BabyMoon Family discount link in the article. I hope to see you there!

While the majority of recent queer celebrity baby announcements have been met with more joy than animosity, this, unfortunately, has not been the case for Joseph and Nathan Hughes. The case of the Hughes demonstrates that not all queer parents are treated equally, and it also highlights queer people's fight for equality and rainbow families and how much further we still need to go.

A new scientific journal article described the racial and ethnic breakdown of sperm donors and compared this to demographics from the United States census as well as sperm donor recipients. The results are surprising from a racial and ethnic perspective, but I also learned from this article that men who have sex with men (MSMs) are prohibited from donating to sperm banks in the U.S. In this article, I discuss the implication for this and how assisted reproductive technology (ART) in general needs to be more queer friendly.

The Mattachine Family is a new queer classic film. It addresses the intricacies and challenges of queer people starting rainbow families in a beautiful and engaging way. While I have critiques regarding how surrogacy for queer men is portrayed, I believe this is an incredible film that every LGBTQ+ person considering staring a family should see and enjoy.

As a physician, clinical research, and intended gay dad, I am thrilled whenever there is a new study on gestational carriers (GCs). However, sometimes news articles sensationalize medical results, taking the conclusions out of context. In this article, I want to review a recent study on medical complications in GC pregnancies to highlight what the study results are actually showing, and what we can learn from this research.

Choosing where to embark on an international gestational surrogacy journey is challenging. There are many factors to consider in order to ensure an ethical journey. One factor could be the maternal mortality rate (MMR) of a country. In this article, I review the latest World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) MMR data and compare different destinations. The results may be surprising and should possibly factor into your decision on where to have your surrogacy journey.