LGBT Females & Family Building

The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine is proud to provide family-building options for LGBT females, who dream to have children. For more information, call us today and schedule a consultation.

As women, Lesbians are no different than other women as it relates to fertility. Their fertility can be impacted by several factors including age, PCOS, fibroids, excessive weight and endometriosis. A woman with any of these factors can face issues in achieving a pregnancy, and such issues will impact your recommended treatment as well as your chances for success.

Same-Sex Female Couples Methods for Biological Parenting:

IUI (intrauterine insemination) with donor sperm
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) with donor sperm is without a doubt the most common process of conception utilized by same-sex female couples. Sperm donors can be either known or anonymous, but due to FDA regulations, and their requirements for infectious disease testing, purchasing Anonymous Donor Sperm, ends up costing less.

An IUI is a relatively simple procedure that is performed in our state-of-the-art fertility center, by either a physician or nurse practitioner. It is performed during one of the following:

Natural Menstrual Cycle,
Clomid or Femara Cycle (use oral fertility medications to improve the chance of pregnancy),
Ovulation Induction Cycle (use injectable medications to further enhance the chances of achieving a pregnancy).

Success with donor insemination is dependent (to a large degree) on the quality of the donor sperm used. Our lab and clinical team will provide you with instructions and information for multiple FDA approved sperm banks, in order to purchase your donor sperm. Donors from these banks have been thoroughly screened for transmissible diseases, such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, and Cytomegalovirus, and the sperm sample(s) cryopreserved and quarantined for six months prior to making it available for purchase and use.

INVOCell with donor sperm
The INVOCell Procedure is available to same-sex female couples, just as it is for heterosexual couples. The main difference is the use of donor sperm to fertilize the eggs of the same-sex female couple.
Please visit our page on INVOCell for additional information about this treatment option.

Co-IVF (Reciprocal IVF) with donor sperm
IUI’s are easy and typically quite successful, but only one of the partners has a biological connection to the child. Co-IVF, however, allows both partners to participate physically and equally in the conception of their child.

During a Co-IVF cycle, one partner donates her eggs (egg donor), supplying the genetic makeup of the child, while the other partner is the recipient of the embryo(s) and carries the pregnancy; thereby creating the ultimate two-mother family.

The couple purchase donor sperm for use in fertilizing the eggs to create the couples embryos. On the day of transfer, if the couple have extra high quality embryos available, they can cryopreserve and store those embryos for future use in having more biological children.

Co-IVF is an excellent option allowing same-sex female couples to enjoy all the privileges of a complete dual motherhood.

Co-INVOCell with donor sperm
Similar to Co-IVF, Co-INVOCell allows both females to share in the conception of their child. The pregnancy rates are comparable to Co-IVF and IVF, while typically costing less (in the end), for the following:

Less Fertility Medications are used in the stimulation process (less drugs = less cost)
Less Cycle Monitoring is required, and therefore less ultrasounds and blood work are needed (less procedures = less cost)
Less eggs are retrieved so less embryos are created, which means lower chance of having extra embryos to cryopreserve for use later (no cryopreservation = no cost for that procedure)

New Hope is proud to offer Co-INVOCell as an effective & affordable option for our same-sex female couples. In fact, New Hope Center is recognized as having the 1^st Co-INVO baby born here in the United States!

For more information, please call us or book an appointment online. We serve patients from Virginia Beach VA, Rudee Heights VA, Lynnhaven VA, Linkhorn Estates VA and Dam Neck VA.