Episode 111: LGBTQ+ Family Building: The Importance of Decision Making and Fertility Coverage

When it comes to a family building journey, there are a lot of decisions to make along the way. ART has transformed family building options for the LGBTQ+ community, but there aren’t a ton of data points and studies chronicling their experiences.  

Same-sex male couples have many options when it comes to family building, some of which could include finding a gestational carrier, donor tissue purchase, embryo transfer, PGT-A testing. etc. Progyny and some of its medical partners, including Dr. Mark Leondires, Fertility Specialist at RMA of Connecticut, facilitated a study assessing the clinical decisions same-sex male couples have to make throughout their journey. Tune into today’s episode to hear him discuss the findings and detail the experience of same-sex couple family building.  

Expert: Dr. Mark Leondires, RMA of Connecticut, Gay Parents to Be 

Host: Dan Bulger 

For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and Progyny’s Education page for more resources.  

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility.     

Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.  

Here are some highlights from this episode: 

The goal of the PCRS study:
7:57-8:40

Dan Bulger: In the study, they asked men who had either completed IVF using a donor and a gestational surrogate, or who are amid treatment, a few questions. Questions like how many babies do you want to have? Is it important that there’s a genetic link between the children for couples who plan to have multiple children, with both partners planned to be the biological fathers? And in the meantime, the study was able to look at some clinical decisions these men were making, like, will they utilize genetic testing? If so, do they have a preference in gender of their offspring? These are all crucial decisions for men to make. And it’s extremely useful and important for the physicians helping them to achieve these goals. 

The beauty of non-traditional fertility challenges:
14:59-15:22

Dr. Mark Leondires: I think it’s important that you understand that the clinic you’re working with has experience with dads-to-be and understand that you have the highest success rates within every fertility clinic, because you have a different kind of fertility challenges. You need the help of these amazing women, egg donors, and gestational surrogates that are willing to help you become parents. So, this Progyny study kind of put pen to paper on some of the assumptions that we’ve been talking about all along.