This paper explores the relationship between access legislation of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) and public attitudes towards family structures in Europe. It contributes to understanding the contextual frameworks that may facilitate the formation of a family outside the different-sex couple norm. The permissiveness of MAR policies has received political attention due to its potential to revolutionize family formation, with varying regulatory routes among states regarding access for single individuals and same-sex couples. We particularly examine regulatory trends in granting MAR access to single women and lesbian couples in Europe, and how legislation aligns with attitudes towards single motherhood and same-sex parenthood. Utilizing descriptive analysis and two-level models on original MAR legislation data across 36 European countries and the European Values Study (2008–10 and 2017–20) for attitudes, we show that MAR access is granted to lesbian couples in contexts where same-sex parenthood is accepted. By contrast, legalized MAR access for single women seems rather disconnected from public opinion towards single motherhood. As a whole, the paper delineates contexts in which the combination of social acceptance and legal permissibility of MAR use for non-normative prospective parents may favor the formation of ‘new’ family forms.

ABSTRACT This study investigates housing conditions of single mothers in the context of housing policies. We study single mothers’ probability to experience housing deprivation, overcrowded housing, overburdening costs of housing, and neighbourhood problems across European countries. We consider the structural consequences of home ownership rates, and policies related to regulation of rental markets, housing benefits and housing prices. We apply a multi-level framework to EU-SILC data on 21,937 single mothers, from 195 country-years and covering 21 European countries from 2008 to 2017. First, we find a trade-off in the provision of free housing or housing at reduced rents, that helps to reduce housing cost overburden for single mothers, but is also associated with higher rates of housing deprivation, overcrowding and neighbourhood problems. Next, in contexts with stricter rental market regulation, single mothers’ housing deprivation is lower. Higher housing benefits reduce the risk of housing deprivation as well as overcrowding, but in contexts where home ownership is common, single mothers tend to experience more overcrowding. Single mothers are more likely to report neighbourhood problems in societies where housing prices are high. Our findings suggest that factors within the control of policy makers can be beneficial to the housing conditions of single mothers.