Mass. Gay Marriages Lead To Increase In IVF

Posted: December 7, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Boston, Massachusetts) Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts there has been a marked increase in the number of gay couples seeking assisted reproduction a medical center specializing in in vitro fertilization said Friday.

"Each year we're seeing an annual increase of about 50 percent in the number of same-sex couples coming to us for IVF to have their children and build their families," said Dr. Samuel Pang, Medical Director of  Reproductive Science Center of New England.

RSC has eight locations throughout New England, Reproductive Science Center and is the seventh largest medical practice of its kind nationwide. 

"I don't know how much equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples has affected the upward shift, but it seems to be the trend over the last three or four years."

Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004, as a result of a ruling by the commonwealth's Supreme Judicial Court that it was unconstitutional to allow only heterosexual couples to marry. 

While fertility medical practices typically do not keep easily searchable records of patients' sexual orientation, RSC physicians have since noted an evident rise in public awareness of the IVF option among gay and lesbian couples as one pathway to having children.

"One possible explanation for increased awareness," Pang said, "could be publicity about the availability of assisted reproductive technology, and the fact that assisted reproductive technology can help them have biological children."

Lesbian couples can use sperm donors for conception and birth of biological children. A male couple in Massachusetts needs an egg donor and a gestational surrogate because the Supreme Judicial Court has issued a ruling that they should be two different women. 

Some of these couples provide their own egg donor or gestational surrogate, who are usually family members or close friends. 

If they do not, Lexington-based RSC refers them to agencies with expertise on such matters, which assist them in finding an appropriate egg donor and gestational surrogate.

A 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 49 percent of gays and lesbians who were not parents said they would like to have children someday.

According to the May 2000 edition of "Demography," published by the Population Association of America, 21.6 percent of lesbian homes and 5.2 percent of male homosexual homes have children present. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that from 8 million to 13 million children are being raised by gay or lesbian American parents.

"I have noticed that the physiological and psychological concerns of prospective parents -- regardless of their marital status or sexual preferences -- are pretty much the same," said. "Procreation is a natural human desire, and parenthood can be an intensely fulfilling experience for anyone."

©365Gay.com 2007

Today's Top Stories      Print Page