What is Surrogacy?

The topic of surrogacy is emotionally and ethically controversial. Today, Michele Zavos, an attorney who practices family law in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia will provide an overview and time line in assisted reproductive technology issues. Ms. Zavos is a pioneer in creating legal protection for LGBT families.

"Until recently, stories in the popular press were about traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate is inseminated with sperm from the infertile woman’s husband, and the carrier is genetically linked to the child. Today, most couples who build their families through surrogacy choose gestational surrogacy, also known as gestational care. In gestational care, the intended mother or an egg donor provides the egg and the intended father or a sperm donor provides the sperm. The resulting embryo is transferred to the gestational carrier, who has no genetic connection to the child".   RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association 2013

Michele Zavos is a partner in the Zavos Juncker Law Group, PLLC. She founded the first Maybe Baby group in the Washington metropolitan area in 1982.
Michele is a selected member of the National Family Law Advisory Council for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton named her an “Angel in Adoption” in 2009. Michele has won many awards for her service to the LGBT community.
Michele and her law partner, Eva N. Juncker, were recently selected two of the top 25 divorce lawyers in Montgomery County by Bethesda Magazine.  She was named Family Law Practitioner of the Year by the Bar Association of Montgomery County in 2013.