And then she made a decision that sounds like the plot of modern reality rather than a romantic story: she purchased two vials of his sperm for $1,000.

“I was 35, I was single, and I really wanted a child. I wasn’t going to give up motherhood just because there wasn’t a man in my life,” says Jones, now 46. Today she works as a retail fashion manager and lives in upstate New York.

Her path to motherhood began through the “Single Mom By Choice” program — women who consciously choose to have children without a partner.

Her main criterion was appearance. “I wanted an attractive man — dark hair, dark eyes. Someone I would notice in a bar,” she admits. And adds with a smile: “Yes, it sounds superficial. But it was my choice.”

Stories like hers are becoming increasingly common. Around the world, more and more women are becoming mothers after 30 without getting married. Within the SMBC movement, many deliberately choose donor sperm and raise children on their own.

Sometimes the selection process turns into a social event. Some organize so-called “sperm showers” — gatherings where friends help choose a donor by reviewing profiles and genetic data. At these events, people discuss not only appearance and intelligence, but also serve themed desserts and symbolic treats.

Others go even further, holding family meetings where relatives vote for a potential “biological father,” treating sperm bank profiles like portfolios. Social media contains hundreds of thousands of posts about this movement, and the number of single mothers choosing this path has grown significantly over the past decades.

Leslie Jones chose her donor through California Cryobank, based on a description that said he was tall and resembled Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent. But her path to motherhood turned out to be far more difficult than expected.

Failed egg retrievals, expensive donor materials, and unsuccessful embryos turned her story into a series of emotional setbacks. “It was one heartbreak after another,” she recalls.

Eventually, she decided to undergo weight-loss surgery and try again using donor embryos. Only then did she become pregnant. In June 2021, she gave birth to her son, Jackson.

Today, Jones says she feels an indescribable love for her child: “I am deeply in love with this human being my body created.”

Similar stories are repeated among many women in this movement. Some go through dozens of IVF attempts, others spend six-figure sums, others struggle for years with repeated failures. But they are all united by one thing — the desire to become mothers without waiting for the “perfect partner.”

And although the journey is often difficult, participants describe it as a deeply intentional choice. For them, motherhood is not a compromise, but a project in which everything is carefully planned: from genetics to future family scenarios.

“My children should know they were very wanted even before they were born,” says one of the women featured in the story.