As more and more single women are using IVF to fulfil their dreams of parenthood, a new report has found that the negative stigma has lingered.

Since it became legal in 2010 for Victorian women to choose solo parenting using IVF, single women have grown to become the majority of women using donated sperm.

But while the take up by single women has grown, it seems the attitude towards them by fertility clinics has not.

A study conducted by Dr Fiona Kelly, an Associate Professor at La Trobe University’s Law School, has found that single women often face barriers in accessing IVF treatment.

They include having GPs refuse to refer them to fertility clinics, telling them instead to wait – presumabley to see if Mr Right turns up.

Even if the women in Dr Kelly’s study were given a referral, many reported that in the compulsory counselling sessions, they were discouraged from going any further.

Even small issues, like forms being designed for couples, rather than singles, are making single women feel like outcasts.

Dr Kelly told ABC News that there seemed to be little consideration of the fact that having a child as a single woman is often a well thought out, educated decision.

“They’ve reached a point in their lives where they are running out of time to have a child and they don’t have a partner. And they decide to take that step alone, knowing that a partner may come along later.”

It’s a brave decision and not one taken lightly, and all women should who make it should be respected.