The Key to Helping Same Sex Couples Build a Family

At Great Beginnings Surrogacy Services (GBSS) in San Diego, California, we are proud to serve as the agency of choice for the LGBTQAI+ community. Dr. Samuel Wood and the team believe everyone deserves a chance at having a family of their own, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identification.

The key to helping same-sex couples build a family is by providing them with all the tools they need to have children, whether it’s egg or sperm donations or a suitable gestational surrogate. 

Here, we want to explain how we help same-sex couples build their families. 

Understanding needs

You need sperm, an egg (or eggs), and a uterus to have a baby and become a parent. Same-sex couples may lack one or more of these key elements, which is why they reach out to agencies like ours for help.

For gay men, we provide the donor egg and a gestational surrogate, while the men provide the sperm. For lesbian couples, we provide donor sperm and a surrogate if needed.

Before making specific recommendations, we always meet with our same-sex intended parents (IP) to learn more about them, their wishes and goals,  and to find out exactly what they need. 

Donor for eggs or sperm

If you need eggs or sperm, you need a healthy donor. Ideally, a person who donates their eggs or sperm is in excellent health and supportive of helping same-sex couples build a family. 

Some couples already have a donor in mind before they come and see us. But when selecting a friend or family member to serve as an egg or sperm donor, it’s important to know that your donor has a genetic connection to your child. This may create legal complications, and you must accept the fact that your donor may want to have a long-term relationship with your child.

If you don’t have someone in mind, we can match you with a donor, or you can use an anonymous donor. We work closely with YourEggs, one of the largest egg donor banks in the world, for couples who want an anonymous egg donor. 

Once there’s an egg and sperm, we use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create an embryo. With IVF, the egg and sperm are joined in a lab and allowed to grow until it’s transferred to a uterus. 

Gestational surrogate

The gestational surrogate is the person who carries the baby until birth. After IVF, the healthy embryo is transferred into the gestational surrogate’s uterus. The ideal gestational surrogate is a healthy individual who’s had previous pregnancies without complications and is supportive of same-sex couples building their own family. 

We encourage same-sex couples to use a gestational surrogate because they have no genetic ties to the baby and, therefore, no legal claims.

Surrogacy is a great tool that helps many same-sex couples expand their family. 

If you want to learn more about how our LGBTQAI+ services can help you grow your family, call our office or book an appointment online today.