Since its inception in 1983, over 1,000 babies have been conceived through Fenway Health’s Alternative Insemination (AI) Program, a first in the country. While AI is a common route used today for LGBTQ+ couples looking to start a family, 40 years ago, it was a revolutionary concept – and a huge risk.
Every legacy starts with risk takers. In 1983, two of those risk takers were named Laurie and Janet. Today, we’d like to share the story of how these women became the parents of the first baby born to the fledgling Fenway Health AI program. Below are Laurie’s own words about her family’s journey:
What did we have to do to make a baby for ourselves and the lesbian couples that followed us? In 1983 when my partner, Janet, and I decided to try to get pregnant we discovered that options for lesbians and single heterosexual women were practically non-existent. We would have to create what we were looking for.
We decided to try the impossible; to convince the administration of the Fenway Health Center to consider establishing an artificial insemination program for lesbians.
In 1983, the AIDS crisis was ravaging the gay community. Holly Ladd, a member of the Fenway Board, understood that the staff was overwhelmed and exhausted from facing so much grief and death. Maybe focusing on creating life would add a much needed counterpoint.
After a great deal of negotiating the administration agreed to create a task force to explore legal, medical and psychological issues related to artificial insemination. The members of the task force were a lesbian couple, a lawyer familiar with gay/lesbian issues, a psychotherapist, an ethicist and a member of the Fenway’s medical staff. We researched available services and made contact with The Sperm Bank of California, the only medical center in the country that offered services for lesbians who wanted to conceive. The task force met for nine months and drafted a proposal, which was submitted to the Board. Approved! The Artificial Insemination (AI) program was born.