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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on August 3, 2007
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/dem250
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Older single mothers assisted by sperm donation and their children

R. Weissenberg2, R. Landau1,3 and I. Madgar2

1 Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel 2 Sheba Medical Center—Andrology, Israel

3Correspondence address. E-mail: mslanda{at}mscc.huji.ac.il

BACKGROUND: Knowledge about the lives of single women who choose to become mothers by sperm donation is very limited.

METHODS: This study comprises 62 families headed by formally single women who, following their decision to give birth to a child with the aid of sperm donation, by means of insemination or in vitro fertilization (IVF), used the services of one sperm bank in Israel.

RESULTS: The findings of the study, based on the reports obtained from the mothers in face-to-face interviews by structured questionnaires with closed-ended scales and single item open questions, present a complex picture of formally single-mother families assisted by sperm donation. They shed light on socio-demographic and conception related information of the mothers in the sample, on mothers’ and children’s health, on the children’s socio-emotional development and mother–child relationship and on the mothers’ difficulties and needs encountered in their function as single parents.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the currently young children’s socio-emotional development seems to be within the normal range, the mean age of 43 years at first birth of the mothers, the fact that about one-fifth of them gave birth to twins, the health condition of some of the mothers and children, and the difficulties they encounter, may raise some concerns.

Key words: sperm donation/donor insemination/IVF/single mothers/Israel

Submitted on April 10, 2007; resubmitted on May 15, 2007; accepted on June 1, 2007.


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