London - Young heterosexual women who have never had sex are becoming mothers through IVF, it has emerged.
Doctors say there have been at least 25 virgin births in Britain in the last five years.
Some of the babies were born to single women who were “saving themselves” for a special relationship.
Others were married but found intimacy difficult and so paid thousands of pounds for fertility treatment.
Doctors said that while the women are counselled on the benefits of getting pregnant naturally, some are so desperate for children that conceiving as a virgin is the best solution.
But campaigners for family values accused the women of treating children like “teddy bears” that were being “picked off the shelf”.
There is also concern that having a mother who has never been in a proper relationship could affect the child’s emotional development.
An investigation found four large IVF units have helped heterosexual British women who have never had sex but who want to become mothers.
But because the UK is home to around 70 units, the true figure is likely to be higher.
The number of single women seeking IVF has been increasing in recent years, with 206 babies born to single women in 2013, up from 155 in 2012 and 158 in 2011. In 2011 there were 268 IVF babies born to lesbian couples.
However, this is the first time figures have emerged for straight women who have never had a sexual relationship at all.
Maha Ragunath, medical director of Care Fertility in Nottingham, has treated three single virgin women, including one who still lived at home with her parents. All became mothers.
Dr Ragunath said: “The number of single women I see has doubled over the last decade and single women now account for at least 10 percent of my patients.
“A lot of them are very young – in their 20s – sometimes studying or doing very ordinary jobs and often living with their parents.
“When I ask them why they are coming for treatment, very often the response is that they are ready to have a child and they don’t want to wait around for the right partner to come along.
“A small percentage have never been in a relationship and never had sexual intercourse.”
Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create fertility clinics in London, has seen about 12 heterosexual virgins in the past five years. All have been in relationships but have had psychological issues with having sex.
The women were given extensive counselling, including the emotional support needed to conceive naturally. As a result, only “one or two” of the women was given fertility treatment.
Tracey Sainsbury, a senior fertility officer at the London Women’s Clinic, told the Mail on Sunday that she sees two single, straight women a year who want to become mothers.
She said added that patients include women who “wish to save sexual intercourse for a special relationship”. These women “feel they have not found the right partner to have sex with but they know they want a baby now”.
Under NHS rules, the women will have had to fund their own treatment. But campaigners say the welfare of the child should be paramount.
Child psychotherapist Dilys Daws questioned whether the mother’s fear of intimacy will affect the amount of love she is able to give her child.
Josephine Quintavalle, of campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “What is the child for these women? A teddy bear they can pick of the shelf?”
Others said that traditional family values were being further eroded by the trend.
James Newcome, the Bishop of Carlisle, told the Mail on Sunday: “The ideal is that a child has a mother and a father who are married to each other.”
Daily Mail