The transition from infertility to adoption: Perceptions of lesbian and heterosexual couples

This study explores how lesbian and heterosexual pre-adoptive couples experience and construct the transition from infertility to adoption as a means to becoming parents. Thirty lesbian couples and 30 heterosexual couples were interviewed about the challenges and benefits they perceived in attempting conception and then later choosing adoption. Although similarities in perspectives emerged between heterosexual and lesbian participants (e.g., regarding the factors that led couples to pursue adoption), lesbians often felt less committed to having a biological child and perceived an easier transition from trying to conceive to adopting. Findings support the notion that, due to their unique relational context, lesbian women may embody more expansive notions about how to create a family that are not predicated on biological relations.