Episode 79: Surrogacy In The Time Of COVID - Robin Pope

Robin Pope is an ART Attorney in Oregon with more than 25 years of adoption and family formation law. Robin graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1981, when adoptions were closed, surrogacy as a solution to female infertility was a recent development, and assisted reproductive technologies such as gestational surrogacy, egg donations, and embryo transfers were newly emerging methods for family building. After her personal experience with infertility, her law practice shifted its focus from family law to adoption and family formation law. Robin is a member of the Oregon State Bar and a Fellow in the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. In addition to representing adoptive parents, birth parents, surrogates, and intended parents for the past 20 years, Robin has represented the position of the Oregon State Bar on adoption and surrogacy issues. Listen to Robin as she discusses with Ellen and Jenn: • Her background and how she started practicing ART Law. • Transitioning from Family Law to adoptions and eventually ART Law • Handling the first surrogacy case in Oregon. • How her life and the surrogacy world has changed in Oregon due to the Covid-19 pandemic. • The impact of the travel restrictions and closing of passport agencies. • Families stuck overseas while their baby is born in the U.S. Now who cares for the baby? • Status of the Oregon courts and parentage orders. • How the courts are helping the surrogacy process. • Her thoughts on how future surrogacy arrangements will be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Want to share your story or ask a question? Call and leave us a message on our hotline: 303-997-1903 Learn more about our podcast: https://iwanttoputababyinyou.com/ Learn more about our surrogacy agencies: https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/ Learn more about Ellen’s law firm: http://trachmanlawcenter.com/ Learn more about Robin’s law firm: http://www.robinpope.com/