The ROPA method, assisted reproduction so that two women can be genetically mothers
The ROPA method represents a great advance at the social level so that couples of women can have children, biologically involving both of them.
Fortunately for some years, depending on the country, homosexual couples have more and more possibilities when it comes to wanting to start a family. First, marriage between people of the same sex came to the laws of those countries, and then the possibility of adopting children would come. But adoption does not always have to be the option, but there are other possibilities that homosexual couples have to be able to have a child genetically.
For men the chances are lower because in most cases can only opt for the adoption or surrogacy known as management or surrogacy . The problem is that this option is not yet accepted in most countries, nor by all people due to ethical issues.
In the case of homosexual couples of women who want to be mothers through their own pregnancy, they do have more options , all of them starting from assisted reproduction, since there is no member of the couple who has semen to be able to impregnate. The most common types of assisted reproduction are Artificial Insemination and In Vitro Fertilization , where fertilization is carried out through the semen of a donor, anonymous or not. But in recent years a variant of In Vitro Fertilization, the ROPA method, has become a much more chosen method.
The ROPA method is a form of assisted reproduction that means Reception of Eggs / Oocytes from the Couple and through them couples of homosexual women can become mothers through their own pregnancy and in this case both can be part of In Vitro Fertilization . This method achieves in its purpose that one of the mothers is pregnant and the other genetically, by donating their eggs and introducing them, once fertilized, in the uterus of the other members of the couple.
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WHAT IS THE ROPA METHOD?
First of all and as in the rest of assisted reproduction methods, in this case the age and fertility of both parts of the couple are also studied first, since the case of being a homosexual couple does not exempt them from having fertility problems. After the study, it is due, both by own and medical decision, who will be the member of the couple who donates the egg and who will become pregnant after the fertilization of said egg . In the event that both women have all the positive characteristics for both options, it may happen that in a first pregnancy, one is the donor and the other is the recipient, and if it is decided to use this method again for a second pregnancy, it is done at contrary.
Once the role of each part of the couple has been decided, the first phase of the ROPA method of assisted reproduction is the ovarian stimulation of the donor woman . This stimulation is the same as that carried out in a regular In Vitro Fertilization and is based on the injection of a hormone that causes the ovaries to produce more than one ovum, increasing the chances of fertilization when joining the semen of the donor, and therefore the number of embryos, which will make the process much more successful. This stimulation treatment lasts between 10 and 20 days , depending on each patient, who will undergo periodic ultrasound scans to check the growth of the follicles.
Once it has been verified that the follicles have reached adequate growth and there are a good number of embryos, these follicles are punctured to extract the eggs produced . This puncture will always be done for safety in the operating room and with the patient under sedation, despite the fact that the process only lasts about 15 minutes.
After the extraction of the eggs, it is time to take them to the laboratory and fertilize them with the sperm of an anonymous donor that comes from the sperm bank. After fertilization, observation of the development of the embryos will be carried out until such time as transmission to the recipient’s uterus can be made.
Meanwhile, the other member of the couple will be prepared for the reception of the embryos. For this, hormones are also administered that will make the endometrium reach the thickness necessary for pregnancy. In this case, in most cases it is not an injection but a patch or a hormone in the form of a pill, but it will always depend on the circumstances of the person. Once the endometrium is prepared, the embryos will be transmitted for the pregnancy to take place.
WHERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE ROPA METHOD
As although there are many couples of homosexual women who want to be mothers, and there are more than one options they can choose from, it is best to inquire with the Spanish Fertility Society . To do it personally, you can also go to any of the assisted reproduction centers that exist in all countries where this form of pregnancy search is approved, for example IVI centers.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.