Can gay women get pregnant

Lesbians who want to get pregnant have a number of options depending on their budget, health, fertility preferences, and personal values. The process may begin with a consultation gay a doctor or fertility specialist. Sex and gender exist on spectrums. 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 pregnant reproductive technologies ART such as intrauterine insemination IUI or in vitro fertilization IVF.

These procedures may be an option for lesbian couples can 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. 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 get 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 woman 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.

Ways to become a parent if you're LGBT+

But if one partner intends to use both their egg and their uterus, it is often possible to get pregnant without specialist help. 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. 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. 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. 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 reciprocalor partner IVF.