Assisted Reproduction

“A Party in My Fallopian Tubes”

“It was a party in my fallopian tubes.” That’s how Orange County mom Cristine Gaiennie described what happened during the fertility treatments that led her and her partner Patsy Lovell to welcome quadruplets into the world on March 3. They already have a two-year-old son. I swear I didn’t know about this when I joked […]

Some/thing Blue

For my third contribution to Robin Reagler’s blog carnival, here’s Some/thing Blue: the Web site of Donor Home Delivery. A reader wrote to ask if I knew anything about this company. The Web site says it helps couples with distant known donors ship sperm safely from one place to another, ensconced in a “test yolk

Egg and sperm

Conception Misconceptions

I really don’t want to be writing about sperm again. Some won’t stop, however, and so I find myself once again turning to matters seminal to clear up some misconceptions about donor-conceived children.

So You Want to Get Pregnant . . .

Louise Sloan’s new book, Knock Yourself Up: No Man? No Problem: A Tell-All Guide to Becoming a Single Mom (Avery: 2007), is something of a novelty. It is perhaps the only parenting book by an out lesbian mom that is directed at a mixed audience, lesbian and not. While some books about single motherhood are

Does Marriage Lead to IVF?

“Mass. Gay Marriages Lead To Increase In IVF” proclaims the headline at 365gay.com. Since marriage equality became law in Massachusetts, more same-sex couples are using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create their families, they report. Samuel Pang, Medical Director of the Reproductive Science Center of New England, one of the largest such firms in the

The Sperm Wail

Sperm, as Helen and I have noted in several of our video blogs, is only the start of the lesbian-parenting journey (and isn’t part of the journey at all for adoptive parents). Choosing sperm is important while you’re doing it, and children may develop a natural curiosity about their donors, but most of us are

No Sperm for You

Right after the good news from Australia’s national elections comes the more worrisome news that the New South Wales upper house will likely approve legislation allowing reproductive donors “to demand their sperm or eggs only go to certain religious, ethnic or cultural groups or be reserved for heterosexual couples.” The bill would also require sperm

Interview with Sherron Mills, Reproductive Pioneer, Part II

Yesterday, I ran the first part of an interview with Sherron Mills, founder and CEO of Pacific Reproductive Services. Here is Part II. I asked Mills what advice she would offer those considering parenthood. She first cautions, “There’s not enough knowledge out there in the general population about how soon fertility begins to decline in

Interview with Sherron Mills, Reproductive Pioneer, Part I

Sherron Mills, founder and CEO of Pacific Reproductive Services (PRS) in California, is a trailblazer in helping lesbian couples and single mothers create their families. She’s been doing so for nearly a quarter century. Mills took a break from running PRS to speak with me about the past, present, and future of her work, and

Lesbian Mom Fights Known Donor for Custody

A lesbian mom in Texas is in a custody battle with her ex-partner’s uncle, the former couple’s known sperm donor. Tamila Payne says she tried to accommodate the donor’s wishes and let her son spend every other week with him, but the boy’s growing reluctance made her stop. Now the donor is suing for custody

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