Georgia Reproductive Specialists

Georgia Reproductive Specialists

Since 2000, Georgia Reproductive Specialists has been dedicated to helping lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples or singles achieve their goals of building a family. Educating prospective parents about their options is an important component of same sex family planning. Even though gay couples are not necessarily experiencing infertility, the need for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is often necessary. Getting started, all patients undergo an evaluation to determine if any medical factors will impair conception and you will work with your GRS care team to create an individual, cost effective treatment plan. Family Options for Lesbians: Treatment options for lesbians will always involve donor sperm; whether it is an unknown or known donor, and in some cases, an egg donor or embryo adoption. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF) are the two medical procedures most often used with same sex assisted reproductive technologies. IUI requires open fallopian tubes and is when sperm is placed directly into the uterus through the cervix using a catheter. IVF requires that the eggs and sperm are collected and placed together in a laboratory dish to fertilize. Often, lesbian couples would like to use the eggs of one partner to create embryo(s) with donor sperm and transfer the embryo into the other partner for pregnancy. This is called reciprocal in vitro fertilization. Many couples choose to reverse the process at a later time, balancing their family genetically. Family Options for Gay Men: Gay male couples and single men will always have the need for donor egg, known or unknown, and a gestational carrier or traditional surrogate. A gestational carrier has no genetic tie with the child she is carrying; donor egg has been used and IVF has been performed. While rarely used, a traditional surrogate contributes her own eggs to be fertilized with the sperm and will share a genetic link to the child. The Society for Reproductive Medicine guidelines advise against the use of a traditional surrogate in most cases due to psychological and legal considerations. GRS will help in matching a donor through our egg donation program. The egg donation process involves a donor selected by the recipient or recipient couple, either known or anonymous, who will go through ovulation induction to produce multiple eggs. The eggs are retrieved from the donor, fertilized with the sperm and the embryos are then transferred to the recipient. At Georgia Reproductive Specialists, we feel that it is important for each patient to build a support network while undergoing fertility treatment, as it can be both a physically and emotionally difficult process. Many patients build a support group of family, close friends, clergy, others going through fertility treatment and/or professional counselors. We work with many reputable licensed psychologists and assisted reproduction attorneys well versed in third party reproduction who can work with you on all aspects of this process.