Baby joy for f irst gay couple to get NHS fertility aid
Surrogate mother due in August
Ross and Chris Muller say they cannot wait to meet their son, who is due to be born in early August.
Ross, 33, a primary school teacher, said: ‘We knew we were doing the right thing and we just know the joy children can bring and we wanted to have some of that and to be part of it.’
Chris, 38, told the Daily Record: ‘We just can’t wait for it to happen after so long of waiting and fighting for it.
‘Both our families have been over the moon – I think everyone is getting more and more excited, we just can’t wait now.’
Ross and Chris, from Edinburgh, married in 2017.
Initially, they considered adoption and also private IVF treatment but were put off by the costs. Under official guidelines NHS Scotland only funds fertility treatment to heterosexual and same-sex couples with fertility problems.
The pair consulted medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, who would not examine their case until their MSP, the SNP’s Ash Denham, intervened.
Ross said: ‘Before we knew we could get it on the NHS we looked privately and the surrogacy journey is about £45,000.
‘After we contacted the NHS, they initially said they wouldn’t look at us. We had to keep pushing on that door and it was new to the hospital so they hadn’t done this before.
‘That’s when they told us that we would be the first in Scotland to go through this.’
A surrogate mother, from Cambridge, was hired through a private company.
Miss Denham said: ‘This is wonderful news to hear Ross and Chris will be welcoming a baby boy this summer.
‘Supporting my constituents is what I’m here to do and I offer my congratulations to them both.’