Transsexual Parents and Donor Insemination
Q: Dear Liz,
I encouraged my spouse, a male-to-female transsexual, to deposit sperm before her sex-reassignment surgery. We have been a couple since then, and I would like to have a child before it's too late.
While we would like to use my spouse's stored sperm, I don't want to spend a fortune on a very small chance of success. My spouse had at least three years of hormone therapy before depositing sperm, and the deposits have few sperm, with low motility, etc. Is there much of a chance of a successful insemination with my spouse's sperm after three years of hormone therapy?
Another complication is that the first sperm bank we went to (located in Virginia) would not accept us, saying we were high HIV risks. Subsequently, the place where we deposited sperm closed and transferred all their deposits to the same place that turned us down. Going to Virginia from our home in Maryland to get the sperm is not a problem. I just don't want to be treated poorly. How do I find a good doctor who welcomes "alternative families" like ours? Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks,
Dayna
A: Dear Dayna,
You ask a very interesting question, and there are several parts to my answer. My first concern is about the effect of estrogen on the development of sperm. We don't know how this would affect the health of your child. It is our practice at Fenway Community Health to have sperm donated before a person starts hormone therapy. Since your spouse was on hormone therapy for three years before depositing sperm, the sperm she deposited would have been formed during estrogen therapy, and we don't know if the pregnancy or the fetus would be healthy. I am unaware of any research in this area but you could consult a geneticist or a reproductive endocrinologist (infertility specialist) to see if you could obtain more information.
My second concern is about the fertility of the sperm specimens. It seems unlikely that you would conceive with your spouse's frozen samples due to low motility (movement) and quantity of sperm. I know it can be hard to let go of the wish for a child who is biologically related to both of you, but I believe your chances of a successful and healthy conception would be much higher using anonymous donor sperm. [See donor insemination]
Your experience at the sperm bank sounds so unpleasant! Since you are in Maryland, I also suggest you contact the Lesbian Services Program at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., to get a referral for a gay-, lesbian-, bisexual- and transgender-friendly medical provider who is experienced with alternative insemination. They may also be able to refer you to a reproductive endocrinologist who is GLBT-sensitive.
I wish you the best as you go through this process.
Liz Coolidge
Coolidge is coordinator of the LGBT Family and Parenting Services at Fenway Community Health in Boston.
Dec. 13, 2002