Surrogacy laws vary by state but California remains one of the best spots for surrogacy, said Stephanie Caballero, an attorney who founded The Surrogacy Law Center and co-owns the agency Extraordinary Conceptions in Carlsbad. One reason is that, with the right legal work, the names of an infant’s intended parents can go directly onto the birth certificate.

Surrogacy remains an expensive undertaking. Caballero estimated that even if a family member acts as a surrogate for free, the process could cost $40,000 to $50,000.

Those who use an agency, Caballero said, should expect at least $80,000 in expenses and possibly up to $100,000. Many times, parents help their children finance a surrogacy process.

“They want to see their children have children and (infertility is) grueling,” Callabero said.

France became the 14th country in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed Tuesday, when its parliament approved a law that has sparked often violent street protests and a rise in homophobic attacks.
Lawmakers in the lower house National Assembly, where President Francois Hollande’s Socialists have an absolute majority, passed the bill by 331 votes for and 225 against.
The law also allows same-sex couples to adopt children.
“I hope people across the country will celebrate this moment,” Martin Gaillard, a 31-year-old advocate of gay marriage, told English-language news site France24.com.
Opponents of the law have held increasingly angry protests in recent weeks, including a string of confrontations with police in Paris.
They fought hard to scuttle the parliamentary bill because it also allows the use of surrogate motherhood by gay couples wanting children.

The debate is also blamed for fanning a spate of homophobic attacks, including the beating up of a 24-year-old in the southern city of Nice on Saturday, Reuters reported.

William Marotta

In a recent article that appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal, this case case will be decided by partial summary judgment, as the attorneys for the state are expected to file the motion requesting partial summary judgment. For those who don’t know,  partial summary judgement is a procedural device used during civil litigation to promptly and expeditiously dispose of a case without a trial. It is used when there is no dispute as to the material facts of the case and a party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

In the judge’s orders issued Friday, she wants to know whether Marotta is a sperm donor and what his status is. The judge also froze the non-biological mother’s motion to intervene in this case. Under recent rulings in the state of Kansas, Bauer, the non-biological parent, is attempting to show that she should be legally declared the mother. Under current Kansas law, same-sex couples cannot be legal parents, but these two rulings do offer hope.

Let’s rip her a new one and make sure she knows it because that’s what’s been happening every day in the press. Never mind that she is an unmarried 22 year-old woman closer to childhood than adulthood and Rupert Sanders is a 41 year-old married man with two children. And, if that weren’t enough, a man in a position of power as her director.

No offense to Robert Paatinson, but you and Kristen didn’t stand a chance against him and his moves. I did not have to be there to know that Rupert probably pursued Kristen relentlessly, calling and emailing and texting her. Saying things she had never heard and in a way no one had ever done before. That’s the difference between a 41 year-old man and 26 year-old one.

But, where is the anger and the outrage against him? Where is the talk of him being replaced as the director for Snow White and The Huntsman? Granted Kristen is the bigger star and the higher up you are the farther you fall, but that’s not the point here. If there is to be any blame the blame should rest completely with Rupert and that is so far from the reality. I for one am not laughing.

Not that getting caught kissing a married man, but how the media have handled this incident is similar to how the media have handled women and children who have been raped or molested: blame the victim instead of the perpetrator and that’s what’s happening to Kristen for she is the victim here, if there is one, and she is being blamed. Have we learned nothing??? When will it stop?

I for one would be proud to call Kristen my friend and to stand next to her at any event. Rupert, not so much.

A mom blogger knows as “Cop’s Wife” posted a picture of her son and wrote about how she decided to allow her 5-year-old son to dress as his favorite cartoon character, Daphne from Scooby Doo.

She even went on the Today Show to talk about the decision. This was last fall. Now she writes in her blog:

“I cannot tell you the betrayal I feel. The church, or at the very least Pastor is trying to bully me into shutting up, and I find that so disheartening. I am floored by the fact that they’ve gone to so much trouble regarding a post that discusses love and tolerance that was posted 3 months ago. I am shocked that they do not see the hypocrisy of what they are saying to me. I am in complete disbelief that this has been handled in the way it has. I have never felt less welcome in a church. This is not the church that I grew up in. This is not the God that I know.”

I doubt we have heard the last on this issue so stay tuned and fee free to comment.