Single women are still being made to feel like they're "doing something dodgy" when they exercise their right to access fertility treatment in Australia.

The number of women choosing solo parenting has grown rapidly since the legal barriers were removed in 2010.

There are no national statistics, but the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority's annual report says the majority of users of donated sperm in that state are now single women.

"In Victoria alone that was 700 women last year, and it's growing every year," said Dr Fiona Kelly, an Associate Professor at La Trobe University's Law School.

And she said other states were reporting similar patterns.

"All women in all states can now access fertility services; now we're just seeing a steady increase."

But her research into the experiences of single women going it alone at IVF clinics shows it's not all smooth sailing.

'I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there'

When Holly Zwalf found herself suddenly single, she decided to pursue parenthood on her own.

Thirty years old and with fertility issues, she felt like she had a "ticking time-bomb" and her mother suggested she should consider being a solo parent.

"She was a single mum for a lot of my childhood, and it just made so much sense," Ms Zwalf told RN Drive.

"So I went to the doctor and said 'I want to do this'.

"But I just remember feeling, even at that point, like I was trying to do something dodgy."

Holly Zwalf said when accessing fertility services as a single woman, she felt like she was doing something "dodgy". ( Supplied )

She was not alone in feeling that.

Despite the removal of legal barriers, the women Dr Kelly spoke to experienced roadblocks, like having GPs refuse to refer them to fertility clinics.

"They would say, often quite patronisingly: 'You still have time, I think you should wait,'" Dr Kelly said.

Ms Zwalf said she didn't feel any qualms about what she was doing until her first encounter with a doctor.

"Saying to them, 'I want to have a baby, can I have a referral to the IVF clinic? And I'm doing this on my own' — I just felt like I wasn't supposed to be there, like I was being naughty," she explained.

The women in Dr Kelly's study found it reasonably easy to get access to the services they needed.

But even at a clinic, in the compulsory counselling sessions, there were attempts to deter them from going any further.

"So they were being asked questions that they felt were inappropriate, things like:

"'What if a man comes along later and you've got a baby who isn't his — how is that going to work out?'

"They say, look, we're not here to gatekeep, we're not here to decide who can and can't have a baby, but it still feels like they are," Ms Zwalf said.

"You kind of get questioned on your capability, and some of it's useful and some of it's just not."

For a small number of women, single parenthood is Plan A, Dr Kelly said.

"But for most women, 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, but they're running out of time.

"If they don't do it now, then they're unlikely to become mothers."

Ms Zwalf said she went into the idea of solo parenting with some confidence.

"But it's constantly being thrown in your face — do you have a partner? No. And you have to keep reiterating it."

Clinics profit from single women, but they're still 'a place for couples'

Because of her fertility issues, Ms Zwalf attended a public clinic.

"And again, I felt like I was screwing the system somehow," she said.

Ms Zwalf described the clinic staff as "lovely" — they were not the problem.

"But it was this feeling that it's a place for couples."

Like Ms Zwalf, most of the women Dr Kelly spoke to did not find the clinics particularly inclusive.

For instance, the forms that need to be filled out (and there are many) tend to assume their clients are part of a couple, and, beyond that, a heterosexual couple.

Single women are a significant and profitable market for fertility clinics ( News Online Sydney )

"So they're having to cross out sections, write non-applicable, in various ways having to tell their story, but the paperwork didn't really reflect their reality," Dr Kelly said.

"Every single form was for heterosexual couples, and I'm queer as well, so I felt like this double whammy every time," Ms Zwalf said.

"And every time I called them or went in, they'd say, 'Is your partner coming in to donate sperm?'"

Dr Kelly said the women she spoke to often had to correct service providers who assumed there was a partner, usually a husband, at home to help with hormone injections or pick them up after an egg transfer.

"They're the little micro-aggressions that really get to you," Ms Zwalf said.

Dr Kelly said single women are a significant and profitable market for fertility clinics.

"[But] they just weren't included in the picture … there's quite a bit of work to be done."