Choice Parent

A choice parent is a parent who voluntarily becomes a single parent to a biologic or adoptive child from the very beginning, rather than by a later separation from a partner.
A woman may voluntarily become a choice parent by artificial insemination, use of a cervical cap conception device with donor sperm, or simply by intercourse. Women who choose insemination or adoption to become parents are also referred to as "choice mums" or "choice mothers". These women, many of whom are over 35, tend to be educated, career women. Children of this group of single moms are less likely to be at risk of poverty.

In History and Fiction

There have been several famous single parents who were also actors, vocalists, and politicians. Murphy Brown, one famous fictional character in the sitcom of the same name, was a career woman working in a TV news firm. She became pregnant and had a baby in the comedy series' fourth season. The character's decisions became a nation-wide interest when she was referred to by several US family values-oriented politicians, including then-vice president, Dan Quayle, who openly criticized the show during a 1992 speech in San Francisco.
Other examples include:
• Shmi Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• Porter Ricks in Flipper
• Robby Ray Stewart in Hannah Montana
• Frank DeFazio in Laverne and Shirley
• Florida Evans in Good Times after James (John Amos) has been killed off
• Ellen Miller in Lassie
• Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show
• Dr. Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Captain Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter
• Danny Tanner in Full House
• Lorelai Gilmore in Gilmore Girls
• Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Dan Burns in Dan in Real Life
• Michael Bluth in "Arrested Development" (Widower)
• Julia Baker in "Julia" (Widow)