ART

Assistive Reproductive Technology brings together an array of legal protections and principles to help form and protect families of choice. At every stage of family creation, the understanding and expectations of the parties need to be explicit. We work exclusively as advocates for parents choosing ART, so we have no conflict in representing their interests.

It’s not always obvious where the law impacts ART families. We prepare and guide intended parents through the ART and surrogacy process. We draft, negotiate and review ART contracts, including egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and gestational surrogacy agreements. We believe clarity of expectations and strong protections are critical to a successful outcome. We advise on a range of matters relating to ART, including advising on inheritance rights for donor-conceived children. Being part of the developing law in this area has been fulfilling. Jill has been a staunch advocate for women who contract with cryobanks.

We approach these delicate types of family formations with a keen understanding of transactions involving multiple parties, priorities, and areas of law. We make sure that our clients understand all parts of the applicable contracts and transactions, focusing on getting things right the first time. We understand the mines and pitfalls, and we guard our clients against them through careful attention to detail and a clear understanding of the potential consequences.

We champion the rights of women and children who have been harmed in the ART process. We have successfully resolved cases in this area. Committed to child protection, we bring in-depth knowledge of parental and children’s rights to effectively advocate for justice. Understanding the IVF process through personal and professional experiences have molded us as advocates in this field.

Jill represented Danielle Teuscher and her minor daughter.  Danielle is a young mother of a 5-year old daughter living in Portland, Oregon who, as The New York Times put it, “decided to give DNA tests as presents last Christmas to her father, close friends and 5-year-old daughter, joining the growing number of people taking advantage of low-cost, accessible genetic testing.”  When you submit your DNA swab to 23andMe or similar services and agree to make the results “public”, you will receive information about other similar consenting users of the service  with whom you have a genetic relationship.   In this case, Ms. Teuscher “unintentionally discovered the identity of the sperm donor she had used to conceive her young child,” quoting again The New York Times, “A Mother Learns the Identity of Her Child’s Grandmother. A Sperm Bank Threatens to Sue,” at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/health/sperm-donation-dna-testing.html

Other media:

https://severancemag.com/taking-a-stand-against-an-unregulated-industry/.

https://abovethelaw.com/2019/10/beware-of-the-home-dna-test-mom-strikes-back-against-sperm-bank/

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/02/sperm-bank-case-has-serious-implications-for-information-and-property-rights/

Podcast: https://iwanttoputababyinyou.com/blog/2020/5/1/episode-82-beware-of-the-home-dna-kit-danielle-teuscher-and-jill-teitel

Decision – Teuscher v. CCB NWC, LLC 1_31_20 
Decision – Teuscher v. CCB NWC, LLC 10_22_19 
Q&A for the Donor Sibling Registry
Interview with Reproductive practitioners During Covid
Paper on Informed Consent