Inclusive, World-Class Family Building for Same-Sex Couples & Individuals

Same-sex couples hoping to start families of their own through the miracle of assisted reproductive technology (ART) have come to Virginia Center for Reproductive Medicine (VCRM) for over two decades. Our Virginia fertility center offers LGBTQ+ family building to singles or couples who want a friendly, boutique setting for their journey to parenthood.

Dr. Fady Sharara is with you every step of the way, ensuring that you establish a relationship with your physician and develop the confidence to ask questions and discuss topics that are important to you. Whether you are exploring donor sperm IUI, reciprocal IVF, or gestational surrogacy with donor eggs, our team provides individualized care tailored to your exact medical and emotional needs.

Female same-sex couples can discuss a variety of family-building choices at VCRM, including donor sperm IUI (intrauterine insemination), traditional IVF, and reciprocal IVF. Lesbian couples can choose options that allow both partners to play an active, meaningful role in the pregnancy.

Most women who come to us for family building choose IUI with donor sperm if the partner carrying the pregnancy has no underlying fertility issues and open fallopian tubes. During IUI, the couple selects a screened sperm donor from an accredited sperm bank or a known donor. The prepared, high-motility sperm is placed directly into the uterus around ovulation to access the fallopian tubes.

If fertility factors are present—such as ovulatory disorders, PCOS, tubal blockages, or age-related egg quantity decline—In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) allows Dr. Sharara to induce ovulation, retrieve mature eggs, fertilize them with donor sperm in our state-of-the-art laboratory, and transfer the resulting embryo into the carrying partner's uterus. VCRM maintains stellar success rates with frozen embryo transfers (FET).

Reciprocal IVF is an advanced technique that is gaining immense popularity among lesbian couples because it enables both partners to share a biological connection with their child. One partner provides her eggs, which are fertilized in the laboratory with donor sperm, and the resulting embryo is transferred to the other partner who carries and delivers the baby.

Legal & Financial Note: Reciprocal IVF requires reproductive legal counsel to establish parental rights for both mothers prior to delivery. While more costly than traditional IUI, many couples feel the shared biological connection is priceless.

Gay couples or single men seeking a genetic connection to their child require donor eggs from an egg bank or donor, plus a gestational surrogate (uterine carrier) to carry the pregnancy. VCRM provides comprehensive, compassionate third-party reproduction pathways in an intimate boutique setting.

Rated #1 Surrogacy Program in the U.S.: For three consecutive years, VCRM's gestational surrogacy program was rated as the #1 surrogacy program in the United States by Men Having Babies. Intended parents from across the U.S. and worldwide seek out Dr. Sharara for our exceptional live birth success rates and our unique 100% Gestational Surrogacy Refund Plan.

Pioneers of Dual Embryo Transfer (2004): In 2004, VCRM pioneered the 2-embryo dual transfer technique for male couples. In this breakthrough procedure, one embryo created with sperm from the first partner and one embryo created with sperm from the second partner are transferred simultaneously into the gestational surrogate. This pioneering technique allows both fathers to contribute their genetic traits and achieve biological fatherhood.

Building a family through surrogacy and egg donation is a significant emotional and financial investment. To maximize your chances of success on the first transfer, VCRM offers Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A / PGS) using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) in partnership with leading reference labs like Genesis Genetics.

After IVF fertilization, an embryologist gently biopsies 6–8 trophectoderm cells from a day-5 blastocyst. The embryos are vitrified while testing determines which embryos possess the normal 23 pairs of chromosomes (euploid). PGT-A identifies chromosomal duplications, deletions (aneuploidy), and translocations.

By identifying euploid embryos, PGT-A enables Dr. Sharara to perform a Single Embryo Transfer (SET) to the surrogate. This eliminates high-risk twin pregnancies (which most surrogates and agencies prefer to avoid) while maintaining live birth rates above 70%. PGT-A also reveals the gender of each embryo with 100% accuracy for elective family balancing.