Biological Parenting for Lesbians: Sperm Banks, Basters, and Bio-Moms

Questions to Consider

Do one or both of you want to experience carrying a child?
Will you use an anonymous sperm donor, sperm bank, or known donor?
Will you inseminate at home or have a doctor’s office perform the procedure?

So, you and your female partner are ready to have a baby. Or you’re thinking of having a baby…at some point…in the future. But you’ve heard it’s expensive. And where do you get sperm from? And do you have to keep it in your freezer? And how do some lesbians end up pregnant…at the same time — could that happen to you? You know lots of lesbians are doing it, but somehow you keep picturing some combination of midwives, home births, turkey basters, and fertility drugs. All this confusion is enough to send you running back to the animal shelter to adopt another cat. Well put the pussy on hold – because having your own big beautiful lesbian baby is definitely conceivable.

Here’s the deal: If you and your partner are ready to have a child, there are many ways to conceive using artificial insemination. Of course, you can technically get pregnant having sex the old fashioned way with a male friend, but that tends to be a decision that’s made in the movies more than real life. (See – or rather, don’t see: Spike Lee’s She Hate Me).

Click on the links below to navigate the lesbian insemination decision process, step-by-step.