When you seek treatment at Wilcox Fertility, we know there are many options that make becoming a parent possible, particularly for same-sex male couples. The two most commonly explored channels are the use of donor eggs and surrogacy. Below, we’ll briefly provide information about these two pathways to parenthood. We encourage you to schedule an appointment so we can help educate, facilitate, and support you in your reproductive health and/or family building quest.
If you are interested in transitioning, Dr. Wilcox can discuss you with fertility preservation and how to preserve your sperm.
Should you or your partner (or both), like to be the genetic parent to the family you’re planning on having, Dr. Wilcox will order an infectious disease test (HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, etc.) and request a semen analysis. Your clinical team will be looking at three main components: Sperm Count, Morphology (shape of the sperm) and Motility (how well the sperm swims). This is to ensure your reproductive health is in order.
Donor Eggs: Once a sperm source is determined, you will need donor eggs for the IVF process. Known donor eggs can be donated from a friend or relative, but there are also frozen donor egg banks (similar to sperm banks) or you can look into donor egg programs to be matched with an egg donor. Overall, the process would be similar to IVF. You and/or your partner’s sperm and donor’s eggs would be combined and any resulting embryos would be transferred to a gestational carrier’s uterus to carry the pregnancy. Please read our ‘Donor Eggs’ page to learn more.
Surrogacy: With gestational surrogacy, the surrogate (who is either someone you know or is someone you have an agreement with) agrees to carry the embryo(s) that were created in our lab, using donor eggs and sperm either from you and/or your partner or a donor. With gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is not genetically related to the baby. Please read our ‘Surrogacy’ page to learn more.
If there are any fertility concerns, such as a poor semen analysis that shows low motility, a low count, or poor morphology, please know there are options. Dr. Wilcox and your clinical team can discuss genetic testing, donor sperm and more to help you every step of the way.
For more information on the numerous fertility treatments and family building options offered at Wilcox Fertility, please continue to review other areas of our site or to inquire about financial information, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our online form or call us at 626.657.9327.