Family Building for Same Sex Couples

Family building options for same sex couples include adoption, foster care, embryo adoption, surrogacy, donor sperm insemination (DI), donor oocyte with gestational carrier, and shared maternity.

For male same sex couples the best option to achieve parenthood is a gestational carrier with an oocyte donor using sperm from either or both partners separately to inseminate donor eggs.

The best option for female same sex couples is donor insemination or in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donor sperm with “shared maternity.” Shared maternity is when one of the female partners donates oocytes to the other partner. In addition to personal preference, to make the best clinical choices about which partner will supply the oocyte and who will carry the baby, the woman’s age, medical, and surgical history must be considered. Costs of various options (known donor sperm insemination, anonymous donor sperm insemination, “shared maternity) are also important to consider.

Family building for same sex couples can be technically complex requiring an integrated, personal care team adept at using all of the advanced reproductive technologies available.  Many couples are therefore turning to ART Centers to achieve their goal of building a healthy family. The Fertility Centers of New England has a proven record of building such families arising from their committed belief that same sex couples deserve the same attention and personalized care that heterosexual couples receive.