Reproductive Alliance Standards
Standards of Agency Conduct
Action
Proposed adoption of initial Standards for Accreditation.
Summary
The technological and medical advances of reproductive medicine have led to explosive growth in the surrogacy field without standardized regulatory oversight. Few states have enacted laws specific to surrogacy, [which have the potential to conflict with each other] and there is no federal umbrella of legal standards for agencies to follow. Reproductive Alliance is developing national standards for third-party reproduction facilitation programs and/or entities based on existing guidelines set forth by related professional organizations, recognize agencies who meet those standards of excellence and keep all engaged parties apprised as to best practices in assisted reproduction.
An initial public comment period was held from March 15, 2022 through May 8, 2022. Based upon feedback received a second round of public comments are being solicited. Comments are only being solicited for items that constituted a substantial change.
Dates
Comments must be received on or before September 25, 2022, at 11:59 pm ET.
Addresses
You may send comments by any of the following methods:
- By commenting on the Zoho survey (preferred method) located here: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/4mRSSf
- Email: [email protected]
- Fax: (571) 520-0555
- Mail: Reproductive Alliance, 6731 Frontier Drive #1951, Springfield, VA 22150
Instructions: Comments received by mail, fax or email may be posted without editing to the Zoho survey site, including any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional processes, see the Supplementary Information section.
Further Contact Information
Questions about the Standards may be addressed via email to [email protected] or to any member of the Reproductive Alliance Board of Trustees as listed on the Reproductive Alliance website at www.reproductivealliance.org.
Supplementary Information
Where Can I Get a Copy of the Standards?
The full text of the originally proposed standards is available here: https://reproductivealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/RA-Standards-of-Agency-Conduct-Final-Draft-03.03.2022.pdf.
A full text copy of the updated proposed standards is available here: https://reproductivealliance.org/standards-revision-post-public-comment-round-2-aug-2022-clean/ Copies may also be requested via email at [email protected].
The Board of Trustees for the Reproductive Alliance welcomes you to engage in a public comment period regarding their proposed accreditation standards.
The second public comment period is open from September 4, 2022 until September 25, 2022, at 11:59 pm ET. Board of Trustees members are open to hearing any informal feedback the public may have but only formally collected feedback will be entered into the public comments period for consideration.
Background
The process of drafting standards is arduous and has not been undertaken lightly. A large number of people, from a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds, have been consulted and contributed, for which we are thankful for their efforts and time.
Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition to an institution or entity that maintains certain standards. We realize that “standards” is a loaded word in the fertility sphere at the moment. Without standards, there is nothing to measure against. Accreditation is not a mandatory undertaking for any surrogacy program, but we feel strongly that it will give gestational carriers, intended parents and other professionals a chance to take a look inside surrogacy programs that are being measured using a consistent yardstick.
A challenge that was faced during drafting is that standards must be measurable. As you read and comment, please keep that in mind. Some items were debated and rejected, not because they are not best practices, but because there is no way to measure them.
We want your feedback on them all. Any and all feedback is welcome, no matter how large or small.
This entire survey form is completely anonymous. The only way a person can be identified is if they self- identify. The original standards document is set out in its entirety here: https://reproductivealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/RA-Standards-of-Agency-Conduct-Final-Draft-03.03.2022.pdf. The updated proposed standards document is set out here: https://reproductivealliance.org/standards-revision-post-public-comment-round-2-aug-2022-clean/ Each individual standard that a comment is being solicited on is listed on pages within the survey by section and item. No items are required to be completed, so a person may comment on as many or as few items as they would like. If, at any time, a person would like to stop making comments and return at a later time they may do so by selecting the “save and continue later” button located in the upper right corner of the screen. Use of that button will send the person a link to access and continue their own comments later. Please note that comments will not be recorded until the “submit” button has been pressed on the final page and there is no record in the system of who was sent a link (which conversely means RA has no way to replace lost links.).
Upon completion of comments a person will see all comments they have made. If, at any time, you would like to see any and all comments submitted in the initial public comment round you may do so by emailing a request to [email protected].
Upon closure of the public comments period, the Reproductive Alliance Board of Trustees and Standards Committee will take all comments under advisement and make necessary adjustments to the standards. If significant adjustments are necessary and made, a third call for public comment may be made and this process will continue until a final set of standards is reached.
We thank you for your time and effort in making comments to the Reproductive Alliance Standards for Accreditation.
The Reproductive Alliance Board of Trustees,
Tara Baumgartner
Dottie Cortez
Melissa Dias
Ashlee Hammonds
Virginia Hart
Dr. Mark Leondires
Dominique Side
Jennifer White
Dr. Alison Wilson