Treatment options for lesbian and single women

All women should start with a personal fertility evaluation to provide an assessment of egg quantity and quality, a uterine evaluation, and baseline hormone levels.

For women hoping to carry the pregnancy, an intrauterine insemination (IUI) with donor sperm is often the simplest and most affordable treatment option. The IUI is performed by passing a narrow catheter through the cervix and into the uterus at the time of ovulation. The pregnancy rate per cycle depends mostly on the age of the women ovulating.

For women who want to optimize their pregnancy rate, to genetically screen their embryos before conception, or who wish their partner to carry the pregnancy, IVF is an excellent treatment option. In IVF we create embryos, biopsy and screen the embryos for chromosomal abnormalities, and freeze them for transfer at a later date in a more natural cycle.

"Reciprocal IVF" refers to creating embryos using the eggs of one woman with transfer of embryo(s) to her partner to carry the pregnancy. Alternatively, both women can create and freeze embryos, and then decide who will carry the pregnancy.

Ask your doctor which treatment option is best for you.