Our history of family building for all
Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area (RSC) has always embraced the motto, “We don’t define families, we create them.” For over 40 years we have supported the LGBTQ+ community by offering services specifically tailored to their family-building needs.
Our fertility clinic made history as one of the first providers of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the Bay Area. With our ongoing goal to always be on the forefront of reproductive science and service, early on we proactively embraced assisting our LGBTQ+ community members become parents. It’s an inalienable right for these individuals, and an honor for us to help them build their families.
We also work with top experts in the field of LGBTQ+ family building and host regular informational seminars for those looking to start a family.
Breaking Barriers, Building Families
Since 1983, we have pioneered fertility treatment for every kind of family. We want to help you achieve your dream of having a baby.
Request appointmentOur team’s philosophy for serving the LGBTQ+ community
Our physicians and staff speak with LGBTQ+ couples and individuals every day, and we know they often endure social challenges. Same-sex and queer couples wanting their own families may encounter confusion and misunderstanding from others, sometimes even from medical professionals.
At RSC, we aim to eliminate the disparities that can exist in reproductive care. We’ve been partners in the intimate lives and dreams of so many LGBTQ+ people that we understand, and empathize with, the unique family-building issues they face. Our entire staff provides a welcoming and professional environment and is dedicated to facilitating every person’s family journey.
We also actively seek out ways to continually respond to the needs of our LGBTQ+ patients, ensuring that we not only use inclusive terminology in speaking, but also in our paperwork and consents.
Our staff is certified by the Family Equality through the Open Door Training Program in Beyond Inclusion: LGBTQ+ 101 and Trans Fertility Considerations. These programs address best practices for serving members of the LGBTQ+ community. Learn more about the history of the Family Equality on their website.
Our LGBTQ+ services
RSC provides comprehensive family-building options for LGBTQ+ individuals, because we understand that every person’s path to parenthood is unique. There are a number of approaches that can help LGBTQ+ individuals achieve their goals, so we partner with patients to help them find the right service or set of services for their needs.
We understand that navigating the myriad options for starting a family can feel daunting. Our unique expertise in the area of LGBTQ+ family building allows us to advise both on the available technology as well as the strategies that will give individuals the highest chance of success.
Many LGBTQ+ individuals elect to use the third-party reproduction services available at RSC including:
- Egg donation.
- Sperm donation.
- Gestational carriers (or gestational carrier surrogates).
RSC is known for strong success rates with IVF using egg donors and one of the largest in-house, multi-ethnic egg donor registries in the Bay Area. We also work with multiple sperm donor, egg donor and gestational carrier agencies to ensure couples and individuals can find the right fit for their family.
Third-party reproduction services are generally used in tandem with services such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and IVF. Another option for some couples is reciprocal IVF, which allows one partner to supply the eggs for IVF and the other partner to carry the pregnancy to term.
For transgender individuals looking to preserve their fertility before transitioning, we offer egg, sperm and embryo cryopreservation options, and can advise on plans that will fit their short- and long-term goals for parenthood.
Our support goes beyond the medical
Counseling & emotional resources
Our family-building care for LGBTQ+ patients includes not only extensive medical support, but also emotional support. As part of this, we require that all patients using third-party reproduction services, as well as donors and gestational carriers, participate in some counseling. This counseling provides patients and donors with the tools and support they need throughout their journey at RSC.
For patients looking for additional psychological counseling, we can provide a list of counselors and support groups in the Bay Area specializing in fertility.
Legal resources
We also strongly recommend that our LGBTQ+ patients understand and protect their legal rights during any family-building approaches that involve third-party reproductive services. This is a relatively new field of medicine, and laws regarding parental rights can be highly nuanced. Due to the complexity of these issues, we advise patients to meet with a lawyer who specializes in third-party reproduction.
We are happy to advise our patients on how to approach the legal aspects of family building and can provide a list of very experienced professionals with whom we have worked in the past.
Financial counseling & support
We offer one-on-one financial counseling with our service case managers. They can advise on our available payment options, which include treatment financing through CapexMD, and applicable discounts or grants.
Our locations
We consider ourselves fortunate to live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the United States. We currently have four locations throughout the Bay Area and three additional open-access monitoring locations where IVF patients can receive ultrasound monitoring and bloodwork.
Our flagship location is a state-of-the-art facility in the beautiful San Ramon Valley. For IVF patients traveling to San Ramon from outside of the Bay Area, we also offer a free one-night stay at one of our nearby concierge hotels.
