Electric vehicles, passenger space flights, cryptocurrency, advanced drones, and tech apps are a few of the innovations that indicate that the future is here. Now, the day has come where women are comfortable choosing to have children on their own.
The unplanned coercion of being a single mother has always existed with the possibility of death, divorce, and relationships simply not working out. Yet, 2022 presents a new epidemic among women who have grown weary of establishing romantic relationships and pressures to marry before their biological clocks expire.
Women are now intentionally choosing to become single mothers raising children on their own. With the option of utilizing assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), a process in which an embryo is formed in a lab and then placed in the uterus, women and their children are coming to terms with not having a father in the household.
In an exclusive interview on CBS Mornings, producer Wendy McNeal was able to select a donor and go through the IVF process with the assistance of her company’s insurance, which she says nearly paid all of the costs of the expensive procedure.
Not all companies provide insurance coverage for reproductive assistance. In fact, a recent report from NPR stated that only 15 states require insurance coverage for fertility treatments. Those states include Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia. California and Texas require insurers to have the option of coverage, but are not mandated to include coverage on insurance plans.
Other women are taking the conventional course of risking having a child with a partner that they know are not going to be around long-term or who aren’t idea partners, but provide a familiarity that makes them feel secure with having the child. Some are opting to use their gay best friends as donors. Whatever the route, being a single mother is not as taboo as it used to be.
With relationships becoming more challenging to navigate as a result of new societal norms produced by technology and infertility becoming more common, so is the pathway to single parenthood by choice.
