GAY MEN TO HAVE IVF ON THE NHS
Scots first in UK to get fertility help – as they search for surrogate mum
TWO gay men have been offered IVF treatment by the NHS in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain.
The newly-married Scottish couple hope to conceive their own baby using sperm from one of them and a surrogate mother who will bear the child.
The NHS is set to fund the process of a donor egg being fertilised with sperm, the resultant embryo being implanted into the surrogate, and all maternity treatment.
Until April 2017, when the Scottish Government introduced changes, the NHS did not pay for surrogate mothers to conceive under IVF.
Now, the procedure is technically no different to a heterosexual couple, where the woman has fertility problems, conceiving with a surrogate and donor egg. The Scottish Government
has confirmed that its current policy means any couple, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, is now eligible for free fertility treatment.
The couple – who The Mail on Sunday has decided not to identify – revealed that they were to undergo NHS fertility treatment when they posted an online appeal for an egg donor.
One of the men wrote: ‘Our NHS clinic don’t have any anonymous egg donors, they advised us we would need to find a known egg donor.
‘Any suggestions how to go about it?’
A friend, who knew the man was gay, replied: ‘Wow, did not know Scotland were offering this on the NHS!’
The man replied: ‘Yes, it’s a new service they offer in Scotland. We only found out when the GP referred us.’
A friend of the professional couple, who live in a large Scottish city, confirmed that the men were seeking an egg donor after being told they would be eligible for NHS fertility treatment. The friend added that the men had been told they were the first samesex male couple to access IVF through the NHS.
The Scottish Government changed its policy so that three NHS-funded IVF cycles should be made available to all eligible adults, no matter their sexual orientation.
The move marked the biggest shift since 2013 when NHS guidance across Scotland, England and Wales made IVF available to same-sex couples and single women with proven fertility problems. Same-sex couples had until now meant lesbian couples, who must demonstrate their infertility by showing they had failed to get pregnant after several attempts at artificial insemination, typically six.
But gay male couples with sperm problems – and single men with the same issue – found that involvement of surrogates in fertility treatment made them ineligible for intermove. uterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and a related procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) which sees a single sperm injected directly into the egg.
The move means gay men will no longer have to pay up to £8,000 to private clinics to have a family if it is found they have fertility issues.
Last night, the gay rights group Stonewall welcomed the A spokesman said: ‘Everyone should be able to have a family and we welcome any move that ensures lesbian, gay, bi and trans people have fair and equal access to fertility treatment.’
A spokesman for the Scottish Government confirmed that fertility treatment was now offered to men in same-sex relationships who have proven fertility problems and will involve a surrogate mother to have a child.
The spokesman added: ‘In Scotland, all eligible same-sex couples can be offered up to three cycles of IVF on the NHS if donor insemination isn’t working for them after six to eight cycles of artificial insemination, including same-sex male couples using a surrogate.’
He emphasised that the NHS would not be involved in finding a surrogate, but would provide donor eggs ‘where available’.
NHS IVF centres operate in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee with all patients accessing treatment within 12 months of referral last year.
‘Up to three cycles of IVF offered’