Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/320723 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] European Societies [ISSN:] 1469-8307 [Volume:] 27 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] MIT Press [Place:] Cambridge, MA [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 171-203
Publisher: 
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Abstract: 
This paper explores the relationship between access legislation of medically assisted reproduction (MAR) and public attitudes towards family structures in Europe. It contributes to understanding the contextual frameworks that may facilitate the formation of a family outside the different-sex couple norm. The permissiveness of MAR policies has received political attention owing to its potential to revolutionize family formation, with varying regulatory routes among states regarding access for single individuals and same-sex couples. We particularly examine regulatory trends in granting MAR access to single women and lesbian couples in Europe, and how legislation aligns with attitudes towards single motherhood and same-sex parenthood. Utilizing descriptive analysis and two-level models on original MAR legislation data across 36 European countries and the European Values Study (2008–10 and 2017–20) for attitudes, we show that MAR access is granted to lesbian couples in contexts where same-sex parenthood is accepted. By contrast, legalized MAR access for single women seems rather disconnected from public opinion towards single motherhood. As a whole, the paper delineates contexts in which the combination of social acceptance and legal permissibility of MAR use for non-normative prospective parents may favor the formation of ‘new’ family forms.
Subjects: 
Medically assisted reproduction
MAR policies
same-sex parenthood
single motherhood
Europe
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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