IVF clinics in Tasmanian have seen a rise in the number of single clients

The number of single women going through IVF clinics in Tasmania is on the rise.

Mother Gemma Cairns with her IVF doctor, Dr. Bill Watkins Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

THE number of single women going through IVF clinics to have a baby in Tasmania is on the rise.

Hobart-based fertility specialist Bill Watkins said the number of single women accessing donor insemination had almost doubled in the past five years.

Dr Watkins, director of Tas-IVF, said it seemed there was now greater social acceptance of women choosing to start a family without a partner.

“The numbers seem to be increasing for a number of reasons, and partly it’s because it’s now more socially acceptable,” he said.

“Nowadays it’s more socially acceptable and there’s a lot more family support for women doing this.”

The clinic’s figures show only 24 single women accessed donor insemination in 2013, and five years later in 2018 the figure jumped to 45-50.

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Dr Watkins said he began offering donor sperm to single women two decades ago, but the uptake was very low.

“We started off with very low numbers, but it wasn’t as socially acceptable then as it is now.”

He said many of the single women coming to him now were younger, as they were reaching the decision to make a family alone earlier.

“We are seeing a younger group of women accessing treatment,” Dr Watkins said.

“In the past we saw older women, in their late 30s and early 40s, but now we are seeing women in their early to mid 30s.”

Dr Watkins said he supported women who decided to raise children alone, as his years of experience had shown him what good mothers they made.

“These are people who really want to raise a family. They have thought about it deeply.”

Fertility Tasmania practice manager Karen Brooks said the practice had also treated single women since opening in Hobart in October 2016.

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She said about 21 per cent of the clinic’s patients were single women, who were not only wanting to have babies but preserve eggs.

“Some of these women come through to preserve their eggs as they aren’t planning on having a family in the near future and are aware that their chances of getting pregnant are higher with ‘younger’ eggs,” she said.

But she said the main reason single women sought treatment was to conceive.

She said the practice was always looking for sperm donors.

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