The increasing trend of ‘ single father by choice’ is not only popular among gay me, but heterosexual male individuals also adopt or opting surrogacy and egg donation options of assisted reproductive techniques to have their children. It needs to mention that assisted reproductive technology policies for single fathers vary from country to country.
France, Italy, and Norway are some countries where the application of assisted reproductive technology for single men is not accepted, whereas, in countries like the USA, the decision-makers are clinicians. In America, a few years ago, the Ethics Committee for reproductive medicine allows fertility clinics to accept the candidature of single men( heterosexual or gay) for surrogacy without considering their marital status or sexual orientation.
Motivation and reason to choose single fatherhood
Certain advantages of a single man over a single woman to being a single father or single mother are usually related to higher income, more stable employment, strong educational background, more social support, and love to pertain older.
However, these are some generalized statements, but may not be a considerable factor for men and women who opt for single parenting. Research studies have shown that women who opt for single motherhood usually have higher education, secure financial background with full-time employment.
There are certain reasons which motivate single men to become single fathers through surrogacy include:
- The primary reason to have a genetically connected baby. This cannot be possible through adoption, which is the main cause of the increasing number of single fatherhood through surrogacy. Apart from this, other considerable reasons are:
- Fear of getting older. It is often common in gay individuals who already have an internalized homophobia and they do not want to wait for the right relationship, as they want to pass their genetic material to their offspring and they avoid facing the fertility-related complexity with older age. General awareness makes people conscious about the ticking of the biological clock not only for the female gender but also applicable for male individuals also, as increasing age reduces the sperm count.
- Most men after a certain age usually at their late forty have a desire to reproduce, when they have a stable carrier with strong financial support.
- Nowadays, people want to enjoy every aspect of life. They know parenthood at the right age can only provide happiness, otherwise aging, or ill health can pose the interest to become a father or create a problem for their child’s life.
- External influence like family, friends, or relatives also motivates men to have their children.
- Gay individuals try to change the traditional thought process that a gay person cannot enjoy their family life.
- A few men prefer to have single parenthood because they do not want their child to experience parental separation, or they worry about their child losing custody in the event of divorce.
Concerns for single fatherhood
Single men when making their decision to opt for surrogacy to have their biological child are considered very complex. Therefore, single men need to be careful about their decision-making in this aspect.
Usually, single men discuss with their family, friends, clinicians, and other single father before they concrete their decision to become single fathers. Single father needs to be concerned about their job stability and fanatical stability.
Along with these, single men need to think of the ability to handle the responsibilities of parenting alone. They might face the challenges related to social teasing not only themselves but also their child might receive the same from his/her social group in the future.
The child may miss motherhood and complain about it. Some negative reactions may come from his child regarding his single fatherhood, etc., which are essential to consider before opting for surrogacy.
Ravi Sharma is a self-motivated, successful entrepreneur and has a solid experience in the fertility segment. and he is the director at ARTbaby Global (ARThealthcare). He is a pharmacy graduate with post-graduation in business administration and has 14 years of rich experience in the field of infertility segment. He loves to write about IVF, Surrogacy, and other ART (assisted reproductive technology) news, issues, and updates. He is a Pharmacy graduate (B. Pharm) and M.B.A (marketing).
His most recent success includes the successful launch of the medical tourism company, ARTbaby, which offers treatment options for infertility, egg donation, and surrogacy. He likes spending time with his family and writing about various aspects of IVF surrogacy and donating eggs.