About 8,100 of the same-sex couples in New York City raising children are gay men, according to the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School think tank that specializes in LGBT issues."....

Easing the surrogacy norms for foreigners, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has proposed that besides married couples, individuals — whether male or female — should also be allowed visas for the purpose. The current law allows only married couples to apply for visas on this ground. However, foreign nationals will have to obtain medical visas for the purpose of surrogacy. They cannot use tourist visas."The new rules will, however, continue to bar gay or lesbian couples from hiring surrogate mothers in India"....

RAIPUR: Amanpreet and Deepak (name changed) were childless even after 13 years of marriage. But thanks to a surrogate mother and the IVF technique, the couple are now the proud parents of twins.Examination using a laparoscope showed that Amanpreet had medical complications and was unable to conceive. Dr Neeraj, an IVF expert here, who examined Amanpreet advised her to go in for a test tube baby, with egg donation from a donor and surrogacy....

Across the world, in San Antonio, US, middle-aged couple Lisa and Brian Switzer have sold their home and risked their savings on a medical tourism firm that once promised them an affordable solution after seven years of infertility. Hiring an Indian surrogate like Khan is their only chance of experiencing parenthood, they say.Infertile couples in the US pay up to $100,000 for a domestic surrogate mother to carry and deliver their child. The same procedure costs them roughly $25,000 in India (includes clinic charges, lawyer's bills, travel and lodging, and the surrogate's fee), often raising questions of exploitation....

A Winnipeg couple whose twin sons were born with the help of a surrogate is urging the Manitoba government to change its laws surrounding surrogacy.Lisa Seel says she and her husband still have not been recognized as the parents of Kai and Keenan, who were born on Dec. 24."My husband and I have been through a lot to try and have these babies, and we finally have them," Seel told CBC News.....

Finally the scandal of Premila Vaghela, who died in an Ahmedabad IVF clinic last year, is surfacing in the American media (see the BioEdge story). CBS News reports that hundreds of poor women as surrogate mothers are being exploited to service clients desperate for a child.Commercial surrogacy is spreading to nearby Kazakhstan, according to the English-language Tengri News. According to a 2011 law, a healthy woman under 35 with at least one child of her own may become a surrogate mother. She must hand the child over the commissioning couple. About 60 women in the major city, Almaty, where there are 10 IVF clinics, take home surrogate babies annually....

Victor and Mary Hui-Wee, who were having no luck with adoption after they were unable to conceive a child, had all but given up on welcoming a newborn into their lives after 22 years of marriage. That changed when the Kalamazoo, Mich., couple hired a foreign surrogate to bear their child.They chose a woman in India, paying less than half the cost for the same service stateside. Fourteen months ago, they welcomed home their son, Connor....

At 49 and 43, they have entered a season of life when many parents are watching their children graduate high school. But the Hui-Wee family, of Kalamazoo, is joyfully celebrating the arrival of their first child, Connor, born last in December. “Connor is such a blessing – he’s a wonderful baby,” Mary said, spilling tears as she described her son. “He’s teething now and it’s just amazing to watch him grow.”The couple traveled quite the twisted road to become Connor’s parents. Three failed Invitro Fertilization treatments set the couple back $45,000 and took a huge emotional toll.....

Victor and Mary Hui-Wee tried for more than 20 years to have a child, testing the limits of medical science. They attempted in-vitro fertilization at least three times, with no success and $45,000 in medical bills.After finding it difficult to adopt in the U.S. because of their age (she is 43, he is 48) , the couple left their home in Kalamazoo, Mich. and traveled half way around the world to India. The couple joined a growing number of Americans who are hiring Indian women to be surrogate mothers to their babies....