Things to know when your gay family and friends while undergoing IVF

01.07.2015

 

Experts have pointed out some issues faced by gay families who are undergoing in vitro fertilization.

 

1)      Gay couples undergo in vitro fertilization to conceive for infertility, and have for decades. In general the experience is very similar to that of any couple or individual undergoing IVF.

2)      Gay couples also undergo IVF to insure that subsequent siblings have the same genetics from the donor egg or sperm. Egg and sperm donors do not donate indefinitely, and embryo freezing enables multiple pregnancies from one stimulation/fertilization cycle. This is common for any patient or couple using donor eggs or sperm.

3)      Lesbian couples often “share” the cycle (a term used by patients of mine.) One member of the couple may undergo stimulation of the ovaries and egg retrieval, while the other member of the couple carries the pregnancy. This is medically pretty simple and has no negative effect on the outcome.

4)      Lesbian couples can also undergo simultaneous embryo transfers and carry concurrently with the same due date. Subsequent pregnancies using frozen embryos can be carried by either woman.

5)      Gay men need the help of either one or two women to complete an IVF cycle. The same woman may be the egg donor and the surrogate carrier, or different women may fulfill each role. There is no disadvantage one way or the other.

6)      There are currently no procedures that permit a same-sex couple to conceive in a way that combines their own genes. The closest approximation is when a lesbian couple uses a brother’s sperm for insemination of his sister’s partner’s/wife’s eggs or when two men use a sister’s eggs, fertilized by her brother’s partner’s / husband’s sperm in a surrogacy cycle. This is also done by heterosexual couples in IVF who need donor eggs or sperm.

7)      Two men can theoretically combine their sperm for insemination and fertilization to obscure whose sperm cell donated the genetic material to the pregnancy. I know of no studies that looked at outcomes in cases like this, and personally never used the technique in my own patients.

8)      Can a couple do an IVF cycle and transfer two or more embryos — created from both women’s eggs or both men’s sperm together, and get a twin pregnancy with one twin from each partner? Yes — but. The “but” is that reproductive medicine has been moving towards single embryo transfers in order to lower the rate of IVF twins, which are much higher risk pregnancies.

9)      Insurance coverage and insurance policy for gay patients and couples who undergo IVF is just as inconsistent and screwed-up as it is for everyone else.

10)   Do reproductive endocrinologists refuse to treat gay couples? None whom I know of personally. I would hope not.

Based on: forbes.com

Read also:
International Reproductive Technologies Support Agency | Organization of IVF and ICSI programmes
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