New program helps lesbians become moms.

by Tara Murtha

Cast members of Showtime’s hit series The L-Word are coming to town to raise money for women’s services and programs at the Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia’s leading LGBT healthcare center. Mazzoni Executive Director Nurit Shein says that in addition to medical services like PAP smears and mammograms, the new funds will support a progressive collaboration with Pacific Reproductive Services, a lesbian-owned sperm bank founded in California in 1984 to serve the reproductive needs of women planning alternative families.

Pacific has the nation’s largest selection of “willing to be known” donors, which means that at 18 the child can discover his or her biological and cultural heritage, an important option for many lesbian parents. [read more]