Ethics and society: Artificial insemination by donor: an alternative for single women

Abstract

Artificial insemination using donor spermatozoa (AID) has been known as a treatment for heterosexual couples where the husband has been found to be infertile. The first woman without a male partner wanting a child by AID was admitted to the fertility centre in 1981. In the literature, two categories of alternative requests, i.e. those from lesbian couples and those from single women, are treated as equivalent family structures since both lack a father figure. However, single women shoulder the responsibility for the child's upbringing alone, whereas in lesbian couples partners share this responsibility. Some of the objections raised to alternative types of parenthood therefore refer more to women not having a partner at all. Since 1981, 94 single women have asked the Fertility Centre of the Free University of Brussels to be considered for AID treatment. Data from this group of alternative requests have been collected. The aim is to draw up a profile of the single women who request AID, and to make a distinction between applicants who were accepted and those who were refused.