Over the years, individuals of the LGBT community have not been capable of bearing children except through prior heterosexual relationships. However, lesbians have greatly utilized donor sperm insemination to bear children and gay men have opted for adoption or created some co-parenting arrangement with a single woman or lesbian couple.
Technology has caught up and made assisted reproductive technologies, also known as ART, available to the LGBT community who have utilized it to bear children of their own. For the gay men, by doing an in vitro fertilization (IVF) with donor eggs and a surrogate.
As for lesbians looking to bear children continue to use insemination while others opt for a reciprocal IVF. The reciprocal IVF involves one of the partners to provide an egg which then is inseminated with donor sperm and the resulting embryo implanted into the other partner’s uterus. This process allows both women to be part of the process.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies for Gay Couples
The ART enables infertile heterosexual couples and gay couples to have babies, the cost being comparable to adoption. The success of the procedure is dependent on several factors including the fertility and health of those involved in the insemination, pregnancy and finally the birth of the child. Skill and experience of the specialists facilitating the process count in as a factor for the success of the procedure.
For men, the ART options involve working with eggs, sperms and embryos externally. For the gestational surrogate, close female relatives or close friends can volunteer but if neither is available then an anonymous egg donor may be used. Egg donors are healthy women between the age of 21 and 30. The women complete a detailed questionnaire and provide information about family genetic diseases which can be traced back to at least two generations. Screening of the women for sexually transmitted infections is imperative before she can donate her egg.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies for Lesbian Couples
The aspects of building a family for lesbian couples are through intrauterine insemination (IUI), donor sperm and reciprocal IVF. For women who do not have infertility issues, they may conceive using IUI. The ovulation cycle is monitored and at a precise time, donor sperm is inserted into the uterus.
For reciprocal IVF, one of the two ladies donates her egg which is inseminated by the donor sperm and her partner or spouse carries the pregnancy until birth. If the couple wishes to get a second child the roles may simply be interchanged. The reciprocal IVF makes it possible for both partners to be physically involved in the conception of their offspring. This has made it appealing to most lesbian couples.
The privileged of access to motherhood is in line with the tasks attributed to women as child-bearers in history. Using these new technologies lesbian couples who may wish to bear children and start a family can now affordably access motherhood, while gay men who wish to become fathers can easily access these technologies too. The models of masculinity in society are now being reconsidered and a change in the procreative consciousness has emerged as more gay men open up about their sexuality.