8 facts about lesbian mothers
34% of Cryos private customers are lesbian couples who wish to start a family together with the help of a sperm donor. We have gathered a list of interesting facts about same-sex parents.
At Cryos, we take pride in helping everyone create a family no matter their sexual orientation. In this article, we have gathered some facts about the part of our customers who are in a lesbian relationship and want to start a family together.
1. 1/3 of Cryos customers are lesbian couples
Lesbian couples are a big part of Cryos' private customers - 34% to be exact. The rest of the people Cryos help are single women and heterosexual couples who experience infertility.
2. Most lesbian couples begin creating their family between ages of 31 and 40
70% of our customers in a homosexual relationship were between 31 and 40 when they ordered donor sperm for fertility treatment. This means that they will, in general, be a little older than the average woman if it is their first child. According to Eurostat, the mean age of European women at the birth of their first child is approximately 29 years old.
3. 75% order donor sperm for fertility treatment at a clinic
By far, most lesbian couples order donor sperm for IUI (intrauterine insemination) treatment at a fertility clinic. IUI treatment is a simple form of fertility treatment where donor sperm is injected directly into the uterus. Often, lesbian couples wanting to fulfil their dream of a baby start with IUI and move forward with other more advanced methods if IUI does not work. However, this is very individual, and the best fertility treatment method depends on different factors such as the woman’s age and previous history with fertility treatment.
If you want to read facts about donor sperm, then follow the link.
4. 50% choose a donor with an Extended Profile
When you are searching for a donor at Cryos, it is possible to choose between a donor with a Basic or an Extended Sperm Donor Profile. The Basic Profile only contains information such as eye colour, hair colour, ethnicity and blood type whereas the Extended Profile contains a lot of additional personal information about the donor such as interests, education, baby pictures, voice recording, it is even possible to see pictures of the sperm donor as an adult. Approximately half of the lesbian couples who choose a donor with Cryos wants an Extended Donor Profile with much more information.
5. 19% receive fertility treatment in another country than the country they live in
All countries have different legislation regarding fertility treatment with donor sperm. In some countries, same-sex couples are not allowed to receive treatment, and in other countries, there are restrictions concerning the type of donor you can choose. Therefore, close to 20% of the lesbian couples who receive donor sperm from Cryos decide to (or are forced to) travel to another country so they can receive the treatment they need with the donor they wish. This is called fertility tourism, and if you want to read more about the subject, we can recommend our blog post about Phoebe and her wife, that travelled abroad to receive fertility treatment.
You can find a list of regulations on sperm donation based on country, and read more about the legal aspects of sperm donation here.
6. Three main factors determine who will carry the baby
As two mothers-to-be, there is one very important decision to make: who will carry the baby? We have asked our customers about the three most important factors when making the decision.
- Will (39%)
- Age (28%)
- Health & Fertility (18%)
In addition, some of the women mention that they plan on taking turns for both mums to experience pregnancy. If you are in a lesbian relationship and plan to use donor sperm to become pregnant, we can recommend reading our blog post on how to figure out who should carry the baby.
7. Almost every second lesbian couples experience legal challenges
As previously mentioned, different countries have different legislation when it comes to same-sex families. In our survey, no less than 44% say that they have experienced legal challenges when it comes to being legally recognized as parents in their country.
If you want to read more about the challenges LGBT+ parents experience, then we can recommend following the link to our blog post on the subject.
8. They highlight five topics that they want more openly discussed
The women we have asked in our survey highlight five topics concerning same-sex parenting that they would like more openly discussed:
- In most countries, the non-biological mother must go through an extensive process to be recognized as the legal parent.
- In some countries, the non-biological mother cannot be recognized as a legal parent at all.
- In some countries, it is illegal for same-sex couples to use donor sperm to conceive.
- Restrictions such as those mentioned above make it expensive for same-sex couples to become parents (additional travelling costs, legal fees, etc.).
- Same-sex parents experience discrimination in everyday life as soon as people understand their family constellation.
If you wish to read more about lesbian mothers, we can recommend Anna's blog post, where she shares how her upbringing was with two mothers.
This article is written based on Cryos International Denmark Private Customer Survey 2020 (125 participants) and Family Dreams Facebook Group Survey May 2021 (10 – 67 participants). If you enjoyed this article, you may also find our article about using donor sperm on your way to parenthood interesting.