Lesbian-mother families formed through donor insemination

This chapter presents a literature review of empirical findings on lesbian-mother families in which all children were conceived through donor insemination (planned lesbian-mother families). Major findings are discussed, clustered into three categories, namely (a) comparisons between planned lesbian-mother families and two-parent heterosexual families on family characteristics, parenting, and child outcomes; (b) differences and/or similarities between biological mothers and nonbiological mothers (or “social mothers”) on aspects such as motives to become a mother, parenting, and division of labor; and (c) the diversity within planned lesbian-mother families (in areas such as experiences of stigmatization and donor status) and the consequences of this diversity on parenting and child outcomes. Based on these findings, challenges and opportunities for future investigations are proposed.