Same-sex couple count cost of starting a family
A SAME-SEX couple have launched an urgent fundraising appeal after discovering it will cost them £3,000 to start a family.
Megan Parry-Willis and Leah Parry-Willis, who have been together for 13 years, say the time is right to have a child of their own.
But for Megan to get pregnant through a sperm donor and artificial insemination, they say as a lesbian couple they have no choice but to go down the private route first.
The pair will only be able to access free NHS treatment in Wales once they have had up to six failed cycles at a licensed fertility unit or can get a referral from their GP.
“If you’re lesbian, bisexual, or another part of the LGBT community it does feel like there’s no support out there [for starting a family],” said Megan, 29.
“It does feel like you’re left on your own a bit.”
Megan, from Bridgend, said she met Leah, also 29, at the age of 16 when they studied animal care at Pencoed College together.
“We were in opposite classes but in the same year. We just became friends,” Megan recalled.
“Neither of us knew that we were lesbian, but we knew we liked each other and after about a month or two it just happened.”
However, Megan admitted that their relationship was not universally approved by their families.
“But it didn’t put a strain on us. If anything it pulled us closer together,” she added.
Megan, who has always had strong maternal instincts, said she was given the green light to fall pregnant after adjusting her epilepsy medication.
“This year we have both been on that same wavelength. We’re both heading into our 30s and the time just feels right now. Everything is falling into place,” she said.
“We had to wait maybe six to eight months to balance my medication and get approval by the epilepsy clinic. It has been a bit of a bumpy road but we’ve got there.”
The pair have now booked their first consultation, via video link, with a medic at a private clinic based in South Wales.
“It’s an exciting time. We get to have a conversation with an embryologist and then there will be a scan when we’re booked in to check my fertility levels and make sure everything is okay,” said Megan.
“Then we will go through the whole process which includes counselling and checking which sperm donor we’d like to have. We’ve already decided that we will go with a donor that matches Leah’s profile, seeing as I’m going to carry. We are going to go for brown eyes and brown hair.
“It’s difficult because you feel very judgemental and picky when you’re going through these profiles. When it comes down to it we’ll just go off instinct.”
The couple have a GoFundMe page ( www. gofundme.com/ f/2rh9r-3000) in the hope they can raise at least £3,000 which includes the cost of the sperm donor, medications and three cycles of treatment.
They have already received some funding from family members which they were very grateful to receive. However, they remain way off their target.
“We never anticipated it being this much,” she added.
“In the future we’re planning on having a second child, but we want them to be related, so they will keep the sperm of the donor ready for us. In total, as a ballpark figure, it will cost £3,000.”