Virgins Having Babies: Women Who’ve Never Had Sex Becoming Mothers Via IVF

When one hears the term “virgin birth,” the biblical event of a teenaged Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes to mind. As reported by the Daily Mail, however, “virgin birth” is also how women are being described in the 21st century who give birth to babies born via IVF — and they’ve never had sex. Their reasons may vary for approaching motherhood this way. Some women feel that they want to be mothers, without needing to enter a relationship with a man or a marriage to do so. A small subset of those women who seek out IVF treatments are actually virgins, and have never had sex with any man, but they aren’t letting that fact stop them from getting pregnant.

Physicians have reported to the Daily Mail that a minimum of 25 women — heterosexual females — have undergone virgin births by making use of IVF treatments to get pregnant. These 25 or more women have given birth to babies over the course of the past five years while still being virgins. Some of these women are going this route and still saving their virginity for the right man, whenever he comes along. Using the IVF treatments aren’t cheap, with the £5,000 price equaling $7,590 in U.S. dollars.

These virgin births via IVF are different from the virgin births some women claim they’ve had, as reported by the Independent. In those instances, the women didn’t admit to having IVF, and insisted they didn’t have sex. There have been similar reports in the past of women who were virgins who’ve theorized that heavy petting sessions that involved ejaculation nearby that found its way inside the vaginal canal that caused them to become pregnant without actual sexual penetration.

As expected, the IVF virgin births aren’t without controversy. Critics claim that IVF treatments are being used by those seeking virgin births as a means of shunning traditional family values and the like. Women who underestimate the amount of work it takes to raise a child are being criticized by religious groups, who claim the IVF virgin birthers might view having a baby as akin to gaining an object instead of a child.

Counselors, meanwhile, postulate that women who have yet to have sex and potentially a longterm relationship might not be the best candidates to undergo the child development rearing skills necessary to become a mom. Several major British IVF firms helped create the IVF virgin births, including Care Fertility.

“A lot of them are very young, in their 20s, sometimes studying or doing very ordinary jobs and often living with their parents, rather than career women who have been driven and focused too much on their work.”

[Image Kike Calvo/National Geographic via Getty]