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Background: Same-sex female couples rely on reproductive care and support when aiming to start a family, facing legal, practical, social and emotional challenges in a heteronormative healthcare system, impacting the already vulnerable period of the transition to parenthood. The Minority Stress theory describes how minorities mental health is affected by social, psychological and structural factors. How same-sex female couples experience minority stress when receiving reproductive care and support is less studied.

Aim: To explore same-sex female couples’ experiences of minority stress when receiving reproductive care and support during the transition to parenthood.

Methodology: Using the Minority Stress theory as a lens for deductive content analysis, 21 articles were analysed and synthesised resulting in a meta-synthesis.

Results: Experiences of minority stress were identified within two main categories – Minority Stress processes (A) and Stress-ameliorating factors (B), including the subcategories Prejudice events, Perceived stigma and Internalised homophobia for theme A and Social support and Coping strategies for theme B.

Conclusion: During the transition to parenthood, same-sex female couples experience a wide range of minority stress processes, with social support and coping being important balancing factors minimising the minority stress impact.