The Lesbian Childbearing Couple: A Case Report

Abstract

Increasing numbers of lesbians are choosing to bear children. Inadequate information about these women's childbearing concerns, together with discriinination and insensitivity to their needs, places these couples at risk f o r receiving less than optimal health care. Lesbians who desire children are faced with numerous psychosocial problems that should be addressed by open and sensitive caregivers. Providing care to a lesbian couple demonstrated the ways in which their needs were similar t o and different from those of heterosexual couples. (BIRTH

Lesbian Experiences and Needs During Childbirth: Guidance for Health Care Providers

“…One of the 1st questions that arose for any lesbian couple was whether to disclose their sexual orientation, more commonly known as “coming out” to HCPs. The review of the literature revealed that many lesbians feared that their degree of honesty, with respect to sexual orientation, might affect their experience throughout the pregnancy, birth, and through their child's formative years (Harvey et al 1989; Tash & Kenney, 1993). Dardick and Grady (1980) found that lesbian (and gay male) satisfaction with HCPs was greater after coming out, yet studies demonstrated that 41% to 72% of lesbians surveyed did not reveal their sexual orientation to their HCP (Lehmann, Lehmann, & Kelly, 1998; Marrazzo & Stine, 2004; Smith, Johnson, & Guenther, 1985) and more than one third (37.5%) believed that to do so would negatively impact their care.…”

“…The non‐childbearing partner in a lesbian relationship may also face the additional stressors of invisibility and a lack of support, particularly from their work community (Tash & Kenney, 1993) or a social community that has been unsupportive of the couple's decision to have a child. The nonpregnant partner may or may not be “out” to her coworkers and friends.…”

“…Arrangements may include 2nd‐parent adoptions, coparenting/guardianship contracts, uniform parentage acts, wills, trusts, or termination of the sperm donor's parental rights (Toevs & Brill, 2002) or all. Not all contracts and agreements available to the lesbian couple are legally binding, although they may be helpful in determining the original intent of the couple or donor, or both, should the issue of custody ever be questioned by the legal system (Tash & Kenney, 1993; Toevs & Brill).…”

The Formation and Continuance of Lesbian Families in Canada

“…Studies have shown that pregnant lesbians were more willing to continue to receive services from the medical system when they were greeted with non-discriminatory language devoid of the heterosexual assumptions that generally fill the language of pregnancy. 35 A 1997 study done in Ontario found that among lesbian patients 51% said that they had not "come out" to the health care providers, even though 91% believed it was important for their physician to know their sexual orientation. 36 The same study found that when physician's intake forms had a question where individuals could indicate their sexual orientation-that 97% did.…”

Understanding Lesbian Experience

“…Unlike heterosexual couples experiencing the joys of pregnancy and birth, lesbian couples often encounter discrimination, barriers to achieving pregnancy and the possibility of losing support from their family, friends and colleagues (Tash & Kenney, 1993). Lesbian couples have reported not disclosing their sexuality for fear that they would be considered "bad mothers" or that their parenting skills would be viewed under a microscope (Wilton & Kaufmann, 2001).…”