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 […]
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
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
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
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
And I thought finding a sperm donor through a search engine was pretty high-tech: Scientists at the University of Tokyo are building a “womb-on-a-chip” to increase the success of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The two-by-one-half millimeter device is similar to a computer chip, but its microscopic channels conduct fluids, not electricity. The ultimate goal is
Lesbians and single women of any orientation in Denmark now have the same rights to artificial insemination in public hospitals as straight couples, PinkNews.co.uk reports. Denmark was the first country to legalise same-sex civil unions, in 1989, although the rights and protections are more limited than in a marriage.
I’m occasionally asked, usually by lesbian friends considering pregnancy, how my partner and I chose our sperm donor. Truth be told, we didn’t use any particular methodology other than agreeing on key factors (health above all), starting with a broad list, and refining, refining, refining. With most sperm banks, you can get free, short profiles
