Women · Family and daily life · Portrait · Health

She had a baby on her own

29 July 2026Photos and text: Guy Leroy26 images

01 / 26 · 29 July 2026Guy Leroy / Collectif DR

Nathalie, 39, a physiotherapist in Maison Alfort, lives alone and is expecting a child after going through medically assisted reproduction (MAR). Through her, this story tells of a contemporary way of making a family: the desire for a child carried alone, but supported by a donor, a medical team, a laboratory and a close circle who are there for her.

The narrative follows her journey, from consultation to embryo transfer, from the laboratory to the apartment. At Nathalie’s home, the ultrasounds, the baby clothes, the bottles and everyday gestures carry on what began at the hospital.

Since the 2021 bioethics law, MAR has been open to female couples and single women. This change brings to light a social phenomenon: a child can now be born outside the traditional family model, without a parental couple at the outset. It also comes amid declining fertility and a falling birth rate, at a time when the government spoke, in 2024, of a “demographic rearmament” and, in 2026, of a major plan to combat infertility.

At the Lille University Hospital, the MAR center performs nearly 15,000 consultations, 1,400 egg retrievals, more than 2,000 embryo transfers and around 1,000 intrauterine inseminations each year.

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The story

26 images