The Lesbian Childbearing Experience: Assessing Developmental Tasks

Selected nursing theories about the childbearing experience are examined as t h y a p p b to the assessment of the pregnant lesbian couple. A review of the women’s health literature sugests that the lesbian pregnancy experience is characterized by the use of donor insemination, social discrimination and a dependence on peer rather than f a m i b networks for social support. Based on these sociocultural constraints, the authors propose that the lesbian couple is faced with greater bar-riers than are heterosexual parents to achieving the dcvelopmentnl tasks of “fafe passage ” and acceptance by others of the pregnancy. Future research should document how a lesbian identi9 af/ects the pregnant woman’s relationship with her mother, her partner’s psychosocial deve lopmt as a parent and the maternal-infant attachment process. Nursing guidelines for assessing parental role development are presented. W ’ith the growing acceptance of nontraditional childbearing options, a variety of new clients has emerged to challenge traditional approaches to perinatal care. One such patient group is that of pregnant lesbian women and their female partner. In a survey of 1,921 self-identified, exclusively gay women, 69