IVF increasingly used by same-sex pairs and singles

RECORD numbers of gay couples, single women and those using surrogates are opting for fertility treatment, new figures show.

Official statistics from the UK fertility watchdog show the number of women seeking IVF with a female partner has risen eight-fold in the last decade, while the number “going it alone” or using a surrogate has tripled.

Meanwhile, the number of women seeking to freeze their eggs has risen sharply, with a six-fold increase in just seven years. Experts said the findings reflected “the changing nature of family creation in the UK”.

But they raised concern that growing NHS rationing of IVF had turned it into a “middle-class procedure” that was increasingly limited to the affluent.

The report from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) shows that between 2007 and 2017, IVF and donor insemination for women in female same-sex relationships rose five-fold, to 4,463 cases. The number receiving IVF rose eight-fold, from 249 to 1,988 cases, while those receiving donor insemination climbed from 693 to 2,475 cases.

There was a doubling in the number of single women receiving either form of treatment, from 1,059 to 2,279 cases.

The same period saw a sharp rise in the number of IVF treatments involving surrogacy, with 302 cases in 2017 – a rise from 110 cases a decade before.

In 2017, there were 1,462 egg freezing cycles – a six-fold rise from 234 in 2010. Fertility experts expressed alarm that more than two-thirds of cases involved women aged 35 and over.

They included some 426 cycles that were for women aged 35 to 37, 313 were for those aged 38 to 39, 192 for those aged 40 to 42 and 42 for those aged 43 to 44. Ten cycles were for over-44s.

Sally Cheshire, chairman of the HFEA, said: “We are seeing a gradual change in the reasons why people use fertility treatments, which were originally developed to help heterosexual couples with infertility problems.” Currently, 62 per cent of treatment cycles are Nhs-funded in Scotland, compared with 35 per cent in England.

Prof Allan Pacey, of the University of Sheffield, said: “What is alarming to me is the shocking difference in Nhsfunded cycles across the four nations of the UK, with Scotland being the most generous and England being the least. This is really shameful and unfair.”

Prof Joyce Harper, of University College London, said: “Fertility treatment is turning into a middle-class procedure, with the UK having some of the highest IVF costs in Europe.”