Lesbian couple in fight against ‘gay tax’ on NHS IVF treatment
A MARRIED lesbian couple are to launch a landmark test case against the NHS after they faced higher IVF costs because of their sexual orientation.
Megan Bacon-evans, 34, and her wife Whitney, 33, of Windsor, Berks, have accused their clinical commissioning group (CCG) of discrimination as it requires “same sex partnerships, single women and couples unable to undertake vaginal intercourse” to pay privately for 12 IVF treatments before becoming eligible for NHS help.
But heterosexual couples only need to signal they have been trying to conceive for two years before getting treatment.
The couple said the financial barrier faced by same-sex couples when trying to have children puts some into debt, while others are deterred from trying to create a family at all.
They said: “We are doing this in the hopes to help create a future where LGBTQ+ families are treated as equal.”
The couple, who originally spoke to The Guardian, said: “As we have an online platform, we voiced our concerns and received so many messages from our followers who are in a lesbian relationship and the devastating fertility journeys that they had all been embarking on.”
CCG Frimley, which covers 800,000 patients across Windsor and Maidenhead, north-east Hampshire, Slough, and Farnham, has denied its policy is discriminatory.
With more than 200,000 followers across their social media channels, the couple, known collectively as “Wegan”, have now launched a £10,000 fundraising campaign for potential legal fees.
Today lawyers will apply for a judicial review on behalf of the pair claiming discrimination under the Equality Act and the European convention on human rights.