LGBTQ Family Building

Achieve the highest success rates in supportive and inclusive environment. Love is love and Dr. John Norian and his team believe that everyone should be able to have a family. With assisted reproductive techniques our LGBTQ patients can have biologic children with the use of egg or sperm donation and gestational surrogacy. These may include donor sperm inseminations or reciprocal IVF for lesbian women. Gay men can build their families through egg donation and gestational surrogacy through IVF. Dr. Norian and his team at HRC Fertility regularly use the latest technologies in reproductive care. Our embryology laboratory and reproductive genetics program offer our LGBTQ patients the state of the art technologies that drive our world renown success rates.

FAQs

How Do I Choose an Optimal Egg Donor?

HRC Fertility works with many egg donor agencies and has access to an extensive selection of egg donors. Some potential egg donors have their pre-cycle screening completed in conjunction with HRC Fertility and are similar to an in-house option.  Egg donors are typically between the ages of 21 to 30, have a healthy weight, are non-smokers, have no chronic medical or genetic diseases themselves, are physically and emotionally healthy, and have an uncomplicated family history. Intended parent(s) are walked through the matching step of selecting egg donors very carefully. Future parents are shown childhood and adult photographs of the donors, learn about their physical traits (eg., hair color, eye color, height, weight, and ethnic background), and are able to review essays and psychological assessments describing her personality and character traits.  Sometimes couples provide their own donors, who may be a family member or friend. 

How Do I Choose an Optimal Surrogate?

Medically speaking, gestational carriers and surrogates are healthy, have had a prior uncomplicated pregnancy or pregnancies without too many prior Cesarean sections, and are of a healthy weight.  They have also gone through rigorous psychological screenings and detailed legal clearances.  

Different states in the U.S. have different laws relating to surrogacy, so having capable professionals and surrogacy agencies involved ensures the safest and healthiest outcomes for the babies and future parent(s). It’s important to know that surrogates, who come from all walks of life with diffe

If I am HIV positive, can I have fertility treatment?

The short answer is yes. Using advanced reproductive techniques, combined with laboratory testing and preventative medications, we best ensure the safety for the child and gestational carrier to avoid contracting the infection.

Is PGT Necessary for Egg Donors?

PGT (Pre-implantation Genetic Testing) is a technique that is used to screen embryos to determine if they have the correct number of chromosomes and the sex of the embryo prior to embryo transfer.  It avoids implanting an embryo with the incorrect number of chromosomes such as Down Syndrome.  

The embryos from egg donors are on-average chromosomally normal (60% normal per embryo).   When reviewing large numbers of PGT-tested donor egg embryos, approximately 1/3 of the embryos are abnormal.  If you would like to increase the chance of pregnancy, get more useful chromosomal information about the embryo(s), and/or know the sex of the embryo before implantation, then PGT is needed.  But understand the likelihood of pregnancy is still very high whether or not you do PGT.

What Can I do to Optimize My Fertility?

It is often recommended that all men and women take a regular multivitamin or prenatal vitamin prior to pregnancy. In addition, all patients should focus on a healthy lifestyle that emphasizes nutritious foods that are not processed, low in simple carbohydrates or sugars, and to have their BMI (body mass index) in a healthy range (between 19 and 25 is optimal). Avoid toxins such as tobacco use. It is best to avoid alcohol and to limit caffeine intake. Moderate exercise has been shown to improve reproductive health.