Fertility Treatment for Single Women

Fertility Treatment for Single Women Fertility Treatment for Single Women

Having a Baby as a Single Woman

IVI offers a range of treatments for single women who wish to start a family using assisted reproduction. The most common treatments are intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilisation (IVF) using a sperm sample from a donor. It is also common for donated eggs, or embryos, to be used.

Whether you’re new to fertility treatment or have had experience before, our clinic teams are here to guide you through your options and provide support at every stage of the process.

What information can I obtain about my sperm donor?

When we match you with a suitable donor, we can provide only non-identifiable information. This includes:

  • A physical description of the donor (height, weight, eye and hair colour)
  • The year and country of the donor’s birth
  • The donor’s ethnicity
  • Whether the donor had any children at time of donation, how many and their gender(s)
  • The donor’s marital status
  • The donor’s medical history
  • A goodwill message from the donor to any potential children (optional)

 

If you go on to have a baby using the donated gametes, your child will have the legal right to request information about their donor, including contact information, at the age of 18. At the age of 16, they will also have access to non-identifiable information about their donor.

Can I use donated sperm from a known donor?

If you wish to have a fertility treatment using a donated sperm sample from someone you know (a known donor), this is possible. If you undergo this process with a licensed clinic, it will be nearly identical as an ‘unknown’ donor in terms of the safety and effectiveness of the procedure.

If you are considering using a donated sperm sample from a known donor, we strongly recommend that you contact a licensed clinic to assist you. The HFEA, the UK’s regulator of fertility clinics, warns against home insemination using donated sperm for safety reasons. It can also lead to a number of issues relating to the legal parenthood of the donor-conceived child. If you would like more information, read the HFEA’s guidance about legal parenthood and why it’s important.

If undergoing treatment with a licensed clinic, a known donor will go through the same compatibility and screening procedures as all donors, reducing the risk of offspring inheriting any serious diseases.

Can I have more than one child from the same donor?

If you are thinking about having more than one baby and would like them to share the same biological father, please let us know in advance so we can consider this as we begin the donor-matching process. Although it is possible, some sperm donors put restrictions on the number of times their sperm can be used.

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