ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to study the evolution of the growing visibility and legitimacy of lesbian motherhood from the 1970s to the present day in Britain and France. Until the 1970s, only a small minority of lesbians had had children of their own, and the majority of these children had been conceived in a previous heterosexual relationship. In divorce proceedings, lesbians often had to fight for the custody of their children as, for many, their sexual preference was used against them by their husbands.
From the 1980s onwards, due to social and technological advances, not only have lesbians had greater success in gaining custody of their children, but access to donor insemination and IVF has provided new opportunities to become mothers without the involvement of men in the upbringing of their children.
Although lesbian parenthood has shown a similar development in both Britain and France in terms of numbers, French law has remained more restrictive, and French lesbians are obliged to go abroad in order to benefit from donor insemination or IVF.
Opposition to lesbian parenthood remains very strong in France despite several decades of scientific research showing no differences in children brought up by lesbian, gay, or heterosexual couples.
