Can lesbians get pregnant

Can a Girl Get Pregnant by Another Girl?

Conceiving a baby can happen in many ways — planned, unplanned, through intercourse, in a fertility clinic… the truth is there’s more than one way for a pregnancy to begin. But one constant in all those ways is that a sperm fertilizes an egg.

So what happens neither partner produces sperm? Curious about how that works, exactly?

Well, it can work, but there are a few more steps to get from point A to point B. Here are answers to all your questions about whether pregnancy is possible between two people with uteruses, as well as the various routes a lesbian couple can take to achieve pregnancy.

The short answer to this question is no, not through sexual intercourse. Two cisgender women (meaning assigned female at birth) in a relationship cannot become pregnant without some form of assisted reproductive technology (ART).

The reasoning goes back to basic biology and how an embryo is formed. To create an embryo, a sperm cell and egg cell must meet in some way.

This can happen through penis-in-vagina sex, where the sperm swim up the vaginal canal, make their way up the fallopian tubes, and find an egg waiting after ovulation.

This can also happen through other routes, like intrauterine insemination (IUI), where sperm is introduced into the uterus through a tube inserted through the cervix, or in vitro fertilization (IVF), where sperm is directly injected into the egg in a lab setting and transferred to the uterus at a later time.

The bottom line is that you need both sperm and eggs to make an embryo. Just one of each will do, but pregnancy cannot happen without both in the mix.

Side note: Even if two people cannot create a baby together, they can still share other things, like sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It’s a good idea to have sex with an appropriate barrier method whether or not pregnancy is a consideration.

The exception

Again, if both partners have a uterus, fallopian tubes, and eggs, there will be no sperm to enter into the equation without a donor. However, some people who identify as women may produce sperm.

If two women want to make a baby and one is cisgender and one is transgender (meaning they were assigned male at birth), there are several ways their sperm and eggs might meet, including through penetrative intercourse or ART.

There’s really no right or wrong way to go about making a family. The option a couple chooses to build their family might be influenced by cost, availability, and personal preference.

One person may have a desire to be a biological parent — while another may not. One person may have a desire to be pregnant — while another may not.

One partner may choose to carry the pregnancy using their own egg or, alternatively, their partner’s egg, depending on personal preferences. Or a couple might opt to use a surrogate or adopt a child.

Below is some more information on the available options when a pregnancy is desired.

Donor sperm

As previously noted, sperm is a necessary part of the baby-making equation. Donor sperm can be acquired from a donor bank or even a friend or family member (a partner’s brother, for example).

When selecting a sperm donor, you may look for someone with similarities to you or your partner. Or not. It’s really up to you.

If you chose a donor through a clinic, you’ll generally be given a catalog with information about the donor’s cultural and ethnic background, along with other details to help with your selection.

Your donor may choose to remain anonymous or have an “open identity” (open ID), which means they agree to having contact with any children after they turn 18 years old.

According to the Seattle Sperm Bank, a single vial of sperm may cost anywhere between $490 and 995 depending on where you purchase it. And shipping costs can be quite steep ($150 and up) when you consider the swimmers need to be kept cold before usage.

If two people with uteruses in a relationship wish to use donor sperm, one (or both, if additional children are desired) may opt to carry a pregnancy. There are a few ways that the donor sperm can be used in order to achieve pregnancy, including insemination and in vitro fertilization.

Insemination

Artificial insemination allows couples to become pregnant by introducing sperm into the uterus without penis-in-vagina sex. Once you have secured your sperm, you may choose to inseminate in a clinic or at home.

There are a few types of insemination:

• intracervical insemination (ICI), which involves putting sperm into the vagina, near the cervix, similar to what would happen with intercourse
• intrauterine insemination (IUI), which involves putting sperm directly into the uterus by using a tube that goes through the cervix

Because of the nature of an IUI, it’s typically performed in a clinic, while an ICI can safely happen both at home or in a clinic.

At-home insemination

Some couples prefer the less clinical aspect of trying for a pregnancy in the comfort of their own home. You can work with a clinic for some aspects of the process (like finding sperm or supplies) or opt to go it on your own.

There are also insemination kits you can purchase that include everything you’ll need and even more specific instructions. The overall cost will depend upon the source for your sperm and other supplies, but this is typically the most affordable option.

Clinic insemination

If you’d rather let the professionals take the wheel, you can also head to your doctor for an ICI or IUI. The cost of IUI will be higher than doing things at home (Planned Parenthood estimates the cost at $300 to $1,000 per cycle), but your insurance may cover some of the bill.

One older study revealed that lesbian couples had a 57 percent success rate with getting pregnant using IUI.

In vitro fertilization (IVF)

IVF is an option if one partner wants to be pregnant using the other partner’s egg (reciprocal IVF) or even a donor egg. This procedure can also be used if a transgender partner had sperm previously frozen.

IVF may be a good method to try if you’re experiencing certain fertility issues. It involves fertilizing eggs in the lab and then introducing the resulting embryo(s) directly into the uterus for implantation.

The first step is harvesting eggs from one partner (or a donor) and acquiring sperm from a donor. From there, the eggs are fertilized and you’ll decide with your doctor how many of them to transfer or save for future procedures.

Then the partner who desires to be pregnant (or a gestational carrier) is primed with various medications to prepare for the transfer of the embryo(s) and — hopefully — successful implantation.

This process is the most invasive and the most costly of all options. According to CNY Fertility, the national average cost of a complete IVF cycle is somewhere around $20,000, some of which may or may not be covered by insurance.

Other options

There are additional paths that you might consider based on your (and your partner’s) own needs and fertility status. You may opt to use a surrogate to carry the pregnancy or to build a family through adoption. Each of these options comes with unique costs, emotions, and considerations.

While a girl can’t get another girl pregnant without some assistance, the good news is that lesbian couples have many options for achieving pregnancy. The method you choose has to do with things like your (or your partner’s) desire to have a biological child, your health and fertility history, and your budget.

If you have questions, make an appointment with your doctor or perhaps a specialist at a fertility clinic. And above all else, best of luck as you navigate your own unique path to parenthood!

Lesbian pregnancy options: Choices and considerations

Lesbians who want to get pregnant have a number of options depending on their budget, health, fertility preferences, and personal values. The process often begins with a consultation with a doctor or fertility specialist since this can help with narrowing down options.

A note about sex and gender

Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This article will use the terms, “male,” “female,” or both to refer to sex assigned at birth. Click here to learn more.

In this article, we will provide a list of lesbian pregnancy options and note some factors people may want to consider.

Lesbians can use all of the same paths to pregnancy and parenthood that different-sex couples can. But those who wish to avoid sex with a person with a penis may need to use assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).

These procedures may be an option for lesbian couples who have already undergone various fertility treatment options but are not yet pregnant. People should consider discussing options with a healthcare professional and may need to consult with a knowledgeable reproductive specialist.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide an interactive map that allows people to locate fertility clinics near them in the United States. People can use this to learn about what services they provide, the types of patients they see, and their success rates.

Regardless of the specific path a lesbian couple chooses to take to parenthood, if one partner wants to become pregnant without having sex with a person who has a penis, the couple will need to use a sperm donor.

There are many options for doing this. The couple could ask someone they know to donate sperm. Or they can purchase sperm from a sperm bank, usually with the assistance of a fertility clinic.

Lesbians who use donor sperm can perform the insemination themselves or pursue insemination options at a fertility clinic.

Some lesbian couples may opt to use the egg of one partner and the uterus of the other, which requires the help of a fertility clinic. But if one partner intends to use both their egg and their uterus, it is often possible to get pregnant without specialist help.

About 6% of married heterosexual women under 45 years old cannot get pregnant after a year of trying. It is likely that a similar number of lesbian women have fertility issues.

Some fertility treatments, such as using medication to induce ovulation, can increase the odds of successfully getting pregnant without additional intervention. Others, such as IVF, require the ongoing assistance of a fertility doctor.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI)

IUI is a type of artificial insemination during which a doctor inserts sperm directly into the cervix or uterus, mimicking the process of fertilization that may occur during penile-vaginal intercourse.

If a couple uses donor sperm, the sperm will be pre-washed and prepared.

In some cases, the person undergoing insemination may take medication to increase the odds of pregnancy. Even without such medication, a doctor will use various monitoring techniques to pinpoint ovulation to ensure the timing is right.

In vitro fertilization (IVF)

IVF is a more complicated technique, in which a doctor fertilizes the egg outside of the body. It requires the doctor to remove eggs from the body first, then fertilize them, then wait for them to grow into embryos. At that time, the doctor implants them back into the uterus.

In most cases, IVF requires about a month of preparation, during which the partner who will be carrying the pregnancy takes various drugs to prepare the body for pregnancy and induce ovulation. The partner whose eggs the couple uses will need to undergo a separate procedure to remove the eggs.

Lesbian couples can choose to undergo reciprocal, or partner IVF. In this scenario, one partner donates eggs that a doctor transfers into the other partner’s uterus.

A lesbian can choose to have sex with a male partner if they are comfortable doing so, attracted to men, or the couple’s budget is very limited. The success of this depends on the timing of intercourse, as well as the fertility of both sexual partners.

Sex with a partner with a penis may have significant legal complications since the man may have a right to claim the child as his own.

Couples who use IVF sometimes end up with extra embryos they do not use. Some allow third parties to “adopt” these embryos.

This can save some time and money and may also be a good option if neither partner ovulates regularly or if both have other fertility complications. A doctor can then implant the embryos directly into the uterus of the partner who wishes to become pregnant.

Lesbian couples do not have to become pregnant to become parents. They may wish to consider other options such as:

Co-parenting

Lesbians can co-parent one another’s children. For example, a person who has children from a prior relationship may opt to raise them with their new partner.

In some cases, such as if the prior partner renounces their parental rights, the new partner may even adopt the child or children.

Fostering or adoption

Lesbian couples can sign up to be foster parents, either on a temporary basis or with the intention of adopting. Some couples opt to foster children they know, while many enter the foster care system.

Similarly, it may be possible to adopt a child. This could be a child the couple knows who needs a home, such as the orphan of a relative, or by seeking help from an adoption agency.

A popular myth suggests that children need two parents of different sexes. But numerous studies suggest children can thrive in many environments, and there is no evidence that children of lesbians fare worse than other children.

In fact, some research suggests they may actually do better on some measures of well-being.

For example, a 2020 analysis found that children raised by same-sex parents did better in school than peers raised by different-sex parents. A 2016 study found that children of same-sex parents are similarly well-adjusted with similar social skills to children raised by different-sex parents.

Lesbian couples may also have a more equitable distribution of household labor, distributing the load of parenting more evenly.

Lesbian couples may also face some challenges. They include:

• Stigma and discrimination: Lesbian couples may face heterosexism discrimination, making the transition to parenthood more stressful.
• Lack of social support: Some lesbians report less social support, especially if their families of origin reject them because of their sexual orientation.
• Cost: In most cases, lesbian pregnancies incur significant costs, especially when using ART. A 2016 study estimates the average cost of ART in 2012 to be $28,829 per singleton pregnancy. Even when the cost of ART is minimal, lesbians may need to work with lawyers to ensure they are both legal parents of the child.
• Legal concerns: While same-sex marriage has reduced some legal hurdles, some states continue to enact laws that may make it more difficult for two lesbian parents to claim their child, especially if the couple is not married.
• Medical issues: Pregnancies that use ART, especially IVF, have higher rates of complications such as preterm labor, gestational diabetes, and pregnancy loss. But this may be partially due to the fact that people who use ART are more likely to have infertility and related health problems.
• Provider issues: Some lesbian couples may struggle to find non-heterosexist providers, either when trying to become pregnant or for their prenatal care.
• Emotional concerns: Some couples may struggle emotionally with the challenges of lesbian parenting, such as the fact that both parents cannot be a genetic/biological parent, or the rigors of ART.

Lesbian couples, and other members of LGBTQIA+ communities, have many options for becoming parents.

There are many fertility treatments available, such as IUI and IVF, which can help the couple become pregnant. Many reproductive clinics have significant experience supporting lesbian couples on their journey to pregnancy.

Additionally, some couples may instead opt to become parents without pregnancy and consider options such as co-parenting, adopting, or fostering children.

A Texas lesbian couple took turns carrying the same baby. This is the first such case in medical practice.0005 ABC .

Ashley, 28, and Bliss Coulter, 36, met six years ago and got married in 2015. They both expected to have a child in the future, while Bliss wanted him to be biologically hers, but the prospect of walking pregnant did not attract her.

Usually, in the case of lesbian couples, donor sperm is used, with which doctors fertilize one of the women, and after the birth of the child, the second adopts him.

But since the eggs were to be taken from Bliss and Ashley was going to carry the baby, this was not an option for them.

From acquaintances they learned about a new IVF method, practiced in only one clinic. Usually, during IVF, fertilized eggs are placed in an incubator for several days, after which they are transferred to the uterine cavity. But reproductologists Katie and Kevin Doody have developed a new technology - with it, fertilization occurs in a special plastic capsule, which is then immediately placed in the body of the expectant mother. There, the embryo is warm and protected from external influences. Then, a few days later, the embryo is removed from the capsule and transferred to the uterus.

This approach makes it possible to reduce the cost of IVF by more than half, as it eliminates the need for incubation of the embryo in the laboratory. It is necessary, because the embryo does not yet have the internal organs - the liver, kidneys and lungs - necessary for the elimination of toxins.

“It turns out, not surprisingly, that a woman's own body is a very good incubator,” explains Cathy Doody. “We have a liver, kidneys and lungs, so we can provide the same services to the embryo, but in a more natural way.”

The new method has been practiced as recently as 2015. Usually, the same woman becomes both the egg donor and the mother. But in the case of Bliss and Ashley, the capsule was first in Bliss's body, and then the embryo was placed in Ashley's uterus.

“This case is special - two women carried their child together,” says Doody. “Everyone contributed to this pregnancy.”

“When we talked to Doody, she was very confident that she could do it. She gave us hope. It was very exciting,” says Ashley. “The idea that we could both bear a child was hers, she suggested insemination inside Bliss's body. We laughed and I said - wow, so she will carry him too.

Bliss underwent ovarian stimulation, her cells were fertilized with donor sperm and placed in a capsule. The capsule remained in Bliss's body for five days, until the fertilized eggs developed into the blastocyst stage. The embryo was then frozen and Ashley began preparing for the pregnancy. When she began her period, she received hormonal drugs designed to trick the body. The doctors then implanted one embryo into her uterus. And after 10 days, the pregnancy was confirmed from the first time.

“Bliss jokes that she has golden eggs,” Ashley laughs.

9 months later, in June 2018, she gave birth to a healthy boy weighing 3,700. The couple named their son Stetson.

“The moment he was born, I felt like the happiest person in the world because he was perfect,” recalls Ashley. “When I look at him, I see my wife in him. It's priceless".

Although the couple is extremely happy with one child, Ashley hopes that she can talk Bliss into having a second one - they still have two frozen embryos left.

Dr. Doody notes that the method of insemination used allows lesbian couples to have a unique bond with their children and makes pregnancy more natural. Previously, she and her husband practiced it only for heterosexual couples.

“We were talking at home one evening and I said, you know, we could use this for same-sex couples too. And Kevin said yes, I think you're right. I think we can do it."

After Bliss and Ashley, Doody was approached by another couple who went through the same procedure. Their daughter was born shortly after Bliss and Ashley's son.

When the procedures became known, Doody faced criticism from religious adherents who said that science was contrary to their beliefs.

“Well, with all due respect, I disagree,” Cathy replied. - I think that family, relationships, children - this is exactly what should be in our world. Nobody knew it was possible, but it all worked out great.”

ROPA technique MOTHERHOOD IN LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSEXUAL COUPLES

Thanks to advanced technology and individually tailored treatments, modern seminal models can achieve pregnancy. For example, the ROPA method allows same-sex female couples to actively participate in the fertilization process. One of them is the genetic mother of the child, and the other is the biological

In vitro fertilization method ROPA (Use of Partner Oocytes) or the use of female partner oocytes is one of the assisted reproduction techniques that allows married women of the same sex marriage to participate in fertilization and pregnancy.

One provides oocytes, which are inseminated with sperm from anonymous donor , while the other receives embryos and carries a child. As a result, after giving prior consent, there is a genetic mother and one who bears a child.

Conception requires the interaction within the female reproductive organs of two germ cells: one female and one male. If, due to gender identity or sexual orientation, this path is unacceptable for a woman, it is necessary to resort to artificial reproduction methods, because sexual orientation and the desire to have offspring should not necessarily be associated with these biological characteristics.

Today we meet with different types of families whose situations and desires require individual approach in each case, such as pregnancy between two women.

Instituto Bernabeu always takes into account the special needs of each patient and adapts the medical services and fertility treatment to provide a personalized in vitro fertilization procedure.

Under current Spanish law: "A woman may use the methods regulated by this Law, regardless of her marital status and sexual orientation." Therefore, the law enshrines the right to motherhood for all women, and more importantly, not only because of infertility.

Since 2007, Spanish law has allowed the registration of dual motherhood at the registry office. At the same time, children born using the ROPA method in a female same-sex couple are legally owned by both mothers only if their relationship is officially married.

If the women are unmarried, then the genetic mother (who did not bear a child) will have to start the process of adoption or adoption in order to be legally registered as a mother in the Civil Registry.

In the case of embryo freezing with the ROPA method (Use of Partner Oocytes), if there is no medical indication for transfer only to the partner who has already received the embryo/s for the first time, the frozen embryos can be transferred to either of them in the subsequent cycle so how women are married and embryos are shared.

), we offer a new alternative to co-motherhood - the ROPA method with partner egg retrieval.

Currently, although this technique is not mandated by law, one can resort to the ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from PArtner) method, or the use of female partner oocytes, which allows two women of the same sex marriage to participate in insemination and pregnancy. One provides oocytes, which are inseminated with sperm from an anonymous donor, and the other receives embryos to conceive. As a result, after the provision of prior consent, there is a genetic mother and one who bears a child. For this purpose, since 2007, Spanish law has allowed the registration of dual motherhood in the Civil Registry in the case of same-sex marriages. In this regard, children born in Spain using the ROPA method will be the children of two mothers from a legal point of view.

ROPA is conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) adapted to the reproductive needs of lesbian families. First of all, it is necessary to examine both patients in order to develop an individually tailored treatment method in accordance with their state of health. Then, the ovaries are stimulated to obtain a sufficient number of embryos and thus increase the chances of conceiving a child. At the same time, the recipient partner goes through the process of preparing the uterus for the transfer and implantation of the embryo. As soon as the maturation of oocytes (oocytes) is established, the cells are punctured and aspirated. After that, the egg is fertilized in the laboratory with the donor's sperm from our sperm bank. And then, we culture the embryos under close supervision and do the transfer on the 5th or 6th day. Thus, we manage to transfer embryos to the blastocyst stage, optimizing the chances of pregnancy. The following months of pregnancy will develop like any other pregnancy, allowing both women to enjoy this happiness.

In addition, epigenetics has shown that environmental factors and the lifestyle of a pregnant woman marks and determines the expression of the genes of the unborn child. Therefore, it is also genetically involved in the development of the child.

Any method of reproductive treatment (IVF, adoption of embryos or ROPA) has an emotional impact. Therefore, to help our patients walk this path, the Instituto Bernabeu offers, on request and at no extra charge, sessions with a psychologist, with which expectant mothers will be prepared for the possible emotions during each stage of the process and pregnancy.