That way, if twins are born, they will be biological half-siblings. What if both of you want to contribute to your children’s genes? Some labs will allow each of you to provide sperm and will use your sperm to fertilize separate batches of eggs from the donor. The sperm test will also help determine the quality and quantity of his sperm and whether additional procedures like intracellular sperm injection (ICSI) will be needed to fertilize the egg.
The Male Side of ThingsĪny man who plans to participate in insemination or IVF has to undergo FDA-mandated screening in an andrology laboratory to make sure his sperm are healthy and that he isn’t infected with any STDs. WIN helps intended parents navigate these legal questions by providing access to legal counsel specializing in third-party reproduction, as well as social workers and counselors for additional support. RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association, has a number of resources on surrogacy and the legal issues involved, which are available on their website. Does the surrogate have any rights in the child? Is your partner legally a parent if you are married, but he is not biologically related to the child? Do you need to have legal agreements with the surrogate and the egg donor? It’s good to sort out these issues before you pursue being a biological parent. It’s important to consult an attorney who is experienced in reproductive law to find out about this and about the legal definition of “parent” in your state. WIN Specialty Services supports those who pursue surrogacy, referring prospective parents to one of several experienced and credentialed surrogacy agencies in our network. Many fertility centers have relationships with egg donors and surrogacy agencies. Some states mandate that the egg donor and the surrogate must be different women. Surrogacy is not allowed in some states, so you would have to go out of state to find a surrogate if you live in one of those. Laws about surrogacy vary greatly from state to state. The gestational surrogate is not biologically related to the child she carries. Both the egg donor and the gestational surrogate have to be prepared with fertility drugs for treatment. If one or more embryos implant, she will become pregnant and will carry the baby to term. This process is called in vitro fertilization, or IVF, treatment. The resulting embryos are then transferred to the surrogate’s uterus. In gestational surrogacy, donor eggs from another female are fertilized with the man’s sperm in the embryology lab. In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is inseminated with the man’s sperm and is the biological mother of the child. In order to have a biological child, a gay man needs a female surrogate who will carry the baby. Here are some basics to help gay men understand how they can have a biological child through surrogacy. who are raising children, biological or adopted. The good news is that there are ways to overcome many of these barriers.Īccording to a report from the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, estimates that there are 28,000 same-sex male couples in the U.S. Gay men face more challenges in becoming parents than any other group, both biological and financial.