The American Fertility Association Announces 'Family Building Options for Men with HIV'

NEW YORK, July 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Fertility Association (The AFA) announced today the initiation of a program designed to reach men living with HIV who want to create a family. The good news is that these men, with proper treatment, can safely have biological children of their own.

The educational outreach program, funded by a generous grant from Growing Generations and International Fertility Law Group, will launch at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, running from Sunday the 22nd of July through Wednesday the 25th of July. The AFA will be staffing a booth that will feature a video with two reproductive endocrinologists and an HIV specialist further explaining the procedures. Information will also be available to all who visit the booth.

"Advances in both the treatment of HIV and in Assisted Reproductive Technology means that men living with HIV can father their own children with virtually no risk of HIV transmission to the female partner, surrogate, or embryo," said Ken Mosesian, Executive Director of The AFA.

Stuart Bell, Owner and CEO of Growing Generations, stated, "With over 5,000 known pregnancies worldwide, using assisted reproduction and the sperm from men living with HIV, there has never been a single incident of HIV transmission reported."

The AFA will be sending information to HIV specialists throughout the country, so they can make their patients aware of the family building options open to them. The AFA will also be exhibiting at the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) conference later this year, and additional conferences in 2013. For more detailed information, visit http://www.theafa.org/hiv.

The American Fertility Association (The AFA) is an inclusive organization committed to helping people create their families of choice by providing leading-edge outreach programs and timely educational information. The scope of our work encompasses reproductive and sexual health, infertility prevention and treatment, and family-building options including adoption and third party solutions. The AFA is a national, not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) charitable organization headquartered in New York City. http://www.theafa.org

Growing Generations is the largest surrogacy and egg donor agency in the United States and is committed to assisting all family types regardless of sexual orientation, marital status, or HIV status. In 2006, the company launched a program to provide services to people with HIV, allowing them for the first time to become biological parents through surrogacy. With offices in Los Angeles, New York, and the Ohio Valley, Growing Generations serves clients from over 30 countries around the world and has welcomed more than 1,000 babies.

International Fertility Law Group, Inc. ("IFLG") was founded by Will Halm and Richard Vaughn, attorneys who have specialized exclusively in assisted reproduction and family formation law for over a decade. Will and Rich and their partners became parents themselves by means of egg donation and surrogacy and know first-hand the joy that assisted reproduction can bring to a family. It was from a desire to help create other families -- all over the world -- that they founded IFLG, specializing in providing expert legal services throughout the United States in the areas of surrogacy, egg donation, embryo donation, sperm donation, parental establishment, non-traditional family formation, co-parenting and second-parent adoption.

Contact:
Ken Mosesian, Executive Director
Office - 602.626.7200
Email - [email protected]

Corey Whelan, Program Director
Office - 718.853.1411
Email - [email protected]

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SOURCE The American Fertility Association