Guide for Single Women: Having a family on your own

At Manchester Fertility Services, over the past 25 years we’ve helped many single women to become mothers.

All of our patients are treated with the utmost discretion and personal approach at all times. We ensure that you feel welcome and relaxed so if you want to have a child this way then rest assured you’re in safe, experienced hands.

You can also be assured that you will only ever be given the right treatment for you, we will explain your treatment in a full, open and honest way and give you completely transparent costs for any treatment with us.

Using donor sperm to get pregnant

At Manchester Fertility Services, we have no waiting lists for donor sperm. So you can have treatment immediately if  you wish to.

About our donors:

  • All of our sperm donors are HFEA-registered, are from the UK and donate solely to us – we get to know them personally.
  • Thanks to our rigorous screening procedures, you can be assured of the quality and safety of the sperm used in our treatments.
  • All of our donors are identifiable to any children you have, should they wish to find out in future who their donor is.
  • You have the option of adding to your family in future years by using the same donor to give your child a sibling (subject to current HFEA family limits).
  • We can also give you guidance on the treatment procedure and legalities if you have a known sperm donor you wish to use.

Treatments you can choose from:

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) with donor sperm – this is carefully-timed for when you ovulate, and puts the donor sperm closer to the egg in the hope it is fertilised.

IVF with donor sperm and egg-sharing – if you’re willing to donate some of your eggs to other  women who can only get pregnant through using donor eggs, then we can offer you a cycle of IVF at a much-reduced rate through our egg-sharing programme. IVF with donor sperm has a higher success rate than IUI with donor sperm.

To take part in our egg-sharing programme, you have to be aged between 23 and 35 with no serious medical history. For more information about what’s involved in being an egg donor, visit www.manchesterdonors.com/eggdonors.php

Mini Fertility MOT – this is a useful option if you wish to have a family in future, but aren’t sure how fertile you are. It’s a series of simple tests, including ovarian reserve tests, which will give you an indication of your fertility status.

Egg-freezing – If you want a family in future but are worried about declining fertility due to your age, you can choose to freeze your eggs to maximise your chances. When you decide you wish to use your eggs, they are thawed, checked if they are viable and fertilised via ICSI using sperm either from your partner or a donor.

If you want to find out more, we hold specific, regular open evenings dedicated to donor insemination - giving you the chance to meet us informally, tour our clinic and ask any questions you may have about any of our treatments. For details of dates, click here.