Egg sharing for lesbian couples or donor insemination?

Hello! We are a lesbian couple that married 2 years ago and now we’re planning to have a baby very soon 🙂 We are so settled down, so we believe we can provide our little one with a bright future, but we are not sure what are the most common parenting options for lesbian couples, I mean, there’s donor insemination and the so-called “partner assisted reproduction” or “partner egg sharing”, but which one is the best? what do you recommend? I’m 28 and my wife is 31, and as far as I know we’re both healthy 😉

Thanks for any advice you could give us 😉

Hello Honeymoon22,

The following are the most common options for lesbian couples to have a baby:

– Sperm donation for lesbian couples: a member of the couple receives a mild ovarian stimulation treatment while she’s thoroughly monitored throughout the whole process. Then, during her fertile days, a semen sample from the donor will be inserted into her uterus.
– IVF with donor sperm: a member of the couple undergoes ovarian stimulation. Then, egg retrieval is performed and finally the eggs obtained are fertilized in laboratory with donor sperm. The embryos will be transferred to the same woman who undergos the egg retrieval (follicular puncture).
– Egg sharing for lesbian couples or ROPA method: ROPA is the acronym for “reception of oocytes from partner”. As the name already predicts, one member of the couple will be the one delivering her eggs, which are fertilized in lab with donor sperm, and the embryos are transferred to the other woman, who will carry the pregnancy.

Anyhow, you’re young, which means that in principle your ovarian reserve might be normal for both of you. Thus, high success rates are in principle expected for any of the treatments listed above. However, other aspects shall be weighted up, as for example the fact that donor insemination stands for an easier technique, because it is less invasive and cost affordable than IVF or partner egg sharing. Besides, partner egg sharing (known as ROPA method as well) is advantageous for both of you, since it allows you both to get involved in the process.

Hope this helps 😉