A Guide to Providing LGBTQ+ Inclusive Reproductive Health Care

This evidence-based guide brings together a wide range of information and practical tools for midwives, obstetricians, nurses, health visitors and birthworkers, empowering them to provide safe and compassionate care throughout the reproductive journeys of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people. This book may also be helpful to LGBTQ+ people in their own reproductive journeys.

Throughout history, in cultures around the world, LGBTQ+ people have become pregnant, sought abortion care, miscarried, experienced infertility, given birth, and made decisions about infant feeding. Their reproductive journeys are increasingly visible, reflecting the changing social and legal recognition of sexual and gender minority people as parents. LGBTQ+ people require support during these significant life events which is appropriate, expert, and meets their needs. However, healthcare professionals and birthworkers may not always be confident in working with these clients and may lack understanding of LGBTQ+ clients’ experiences. There is also often insufficient attention paid to differences in the LGBTQ+ non-gestational parents' experiences. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book brings together up-to-date research findings from a range of fields including medicine, psychology, sociology, law and public health, to provide a knowledge base and tools to support clients at different stages of pregnancy and parenthood. The book follows the reproductive journey, moving from pre-conception and fertility research, through pregnancy and birth, to postnatal physical and mental healthcare. It also addresses termination care and perinatal loss.

The chapters contain vignettes to personalise the issues discussed, highlights key practice recommendations, and suggestions for further reading. This is an essential guide for student midwives and medical students, as well as health visitors, midwives and obstetricians in practice.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Mari Greenfield (she/they) is a genderqueer dyke who is both a gestational, non-gestational and foster parent. Mari came into academia after a decade of working as a doula and La Leche Leader, supporting other parents on their breast and chestfeeding journeys.

Kate Luxion (they/them) is a non-binary/genderqueer, bisexual gestational parent who has built both a career in the fine arts and doing research and advocacy around LGBTQ+ reproduction and parenthood. As a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, and trainee lactation consultant, it is important to Kate to ensure that health information is accurate and accessible to both parents and clinicians.

El Molloy (she/her) is a cis gender, pansexual mother and academic whose research focuses on challenging research questions and inequities in access to healthcare. El switched from quantitative to qualitative research after becoming a parent, and as an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor and researcher she is passionate about informed decision-making for all parents.

Alice-Amanda Hinton (she/they) is a bisexual/queer, non-binary midwife who brings with them 13 years of experience. She is also responsible for Trust-wide guidelines for trans and non-binary staff and patients at King’s College Hospital, as well as co-chairing King’s and Queers for the Trust LGBT network.