It takes three things to make a baby, an egg, a uterus, and sperm.
No matter who you are, no matter where you are from, we are all created the same way.
As I worked with people born through third-party reproduction, raised through adoption, or carried by a surrogate, it became clear that a need to be comfortable and confident in one’s birth story could be a struggle.
Donor conception and surrogacy births are rapidly increasing. Still, society, including the medical community, is not embracing this type of conception in a way that allows those impacted to feel normal and accepted. This is something those adopted experience as well.
Third-party reproduction can elicit a wide array of feelings. So how do we normalize it? Let’s start by opening up the conversation in the medical community to improve health outcomes.
An Inclusive Medical History encourages the medical community to help everyone feel comfortable sharing their birth story when accessing medical care and to ensure optimal care
Let’s take donor conception and adoption out of the shadows
and improve medical and mental health in the process.
When taking a family history and asking about mother and father, let’s include donor and adoption. This can help those treating the person and those being treated to feel welcomed and not trigger a reason to lament. Having these two additional words will also help normalize the conversation by just being there for everyone to see.
Consider how this simple change could reduce and ideally eliminate any stigma associated with these types of journeys enhances the lives touched by third-party reproduction and improves health outcome
What’s Happening
We are on our way!
In Oct. 2023 the Inclusive Medical History at the first American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Soap Box series held earlier this year. This event was created to highlight those who have made an impact through advocacy. Dr Serena, medical lead, Joe Cody, technology expert, and I. We shared how the Inclusive Family History concept came to be and made its way onto the global stage! The two-pronged approach is to capture information at the point of care by adding indices on the medical intake form and to educate the provider community on being comfortable and confident in speaking with patients who were either donor-conceived or adopted.
To date, the Global Alliance for Genomics & Health (GA4GH) has been working to standardize clinical data description, with a particular focus on family health history information. We met with this group in their discovery phase of understanding how families come to be in a variety of ways (donor conception, adoption, stepfamilies, to name a few, and how one’s origin impacts a person’s medical history. They have expanded this section of the medical intake and are including donor conception and adoption in the database. They have determined all the fields for the medical history section and are now in the operationalizing phase. The hope is that this will be done towards the end of 2024.
We were also invited to meet with ASRM’s Donor Task Force. They were welcoming and optimistic about the Inclusive Family History initiative. They will be following up on ways to engage the provider communities in all types of medical fields, including pediatrics, cardiology, gastroenterology, and more, in 2024.
With all this said, it is a pleasure to report that the addition of donor conception and adoption to the medical intake portion of the electronic medical record history screens and intake process is well underway, and the impact will be profound for those impacted. A special thank you to those in my support group who highlighted the need for change in how medical history information is obtained and recorded in order to provide quality care that meets the emotional and physical needs in an optimal manner.
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Update
on Including Donor & Adoption in the EMR
Watch the initial ‘Let’s Normalize Talking About 3rd-Party Reproduction’ Webinar
A special webinar where we introduce the purpose of this initiative and discussed why adding donor and adoption to the medical intake is important. How, making it a normal part of the medical history intake can improve health outcome, physically, emotionally and financially. Hear about how to advocate for yourself and your family, the emotional impact on those who have built their families through these option, and more. There was also a Q&A.
Our panelists included Camille Guaty, Barb Collura of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, Dr. Serena Chen or IRMS Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Gail Sexton Anderson of Donor Concierge, Aren Skolnick, DO of Northwell Health and Lori Metz.
Watch the second ‘Let’s Normalize Talking About 3rd-Party Reproduction’ Webinar
This webinar focuses on the recipient parent (RP) and donor conceived person (DCP). It looks at the how and why this initiative can assist all those conceived through donor conception and adoption feel comfortable in sharing their birth stories in general and specifically in a medical setting. Why we want it to be normal for the medical community to ask about conception on the medial history, to improve health outcomes physically, emotionally and economically. Hear about how the impact of sharing birth stories, tips on how to share with your child and others regardless of where you are on your journey, resources and more. There was also a Q&A.
Our panelists included Hayley King, DCP, RP & advocate, Elena Ridley, RP & advocate, Patricia Hershberger, PhD, APRN, Eran Amir Founder of GoStork, Jennifer Mass, Esq, Lori Metz, LCSW & Jay Palumbo, Fertility Advocate
Here’s what others are saying:
Updates and how you can help:
Third-Party Birth Story Survey to Optimize Health Care
In completing the survey, you are helping us collect information from donor-conceived people/person (DCP), adoption, or recipient parents (RP). Capturing your story and others will allow us to present actual situations to the medical associations to substantiate the need to ask someone about their conception on the medical intake form and process. The goal is to improve health outcomes physically, emotionally, and financially.
Sign the 3rd-Party Reproduction Improve Healthcare Petition
Our goal is to improve health outcomes for those born through third-party reproduction and adoption by requesting that the word “other” be changed to donor and adoption on the medical intake forms under family history.
Please sign this petition if you support including family building options like adoption and third-party reproduction (donor eggs, donor sperm, donor embryos) on medical intake forms.
Send letters eliciting knowledge and support
- To your doctor – who may not be aware of the need to ask routinely.
- To the AMA – to educate the medical professionals that they will get a complete medical history with the edition and improve the emotional impact of not being asked.
- To the oversite organizations, who set and audit the delivery of healthcare to ensure they are met.
- To legislators: Since 1 in 8 is impacted by fertility, let’s ensure they understand the impact and reach.
Submit your email below and we’ll send the letters directly to your inbox.
