Every year, 24,000 LBQ+ women are ageing out of the system due to the barriers surrounding fertility treatment
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES
This Lesbian Visibility Week, DIVA, Stonewall, and LGBT Mummies are urging you to contact your local MP asking them to push the Health Minister and their Independent Health Boards to implement equal access to IVF for queer women and trans people.
In 2022, the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy promised to remove financial barriers to IVF for LBTQIA couples in England. However, as of April 2024, only four of the 42 integrated care bodies (ICBs) in England officially provide NHS funding for artificial insemination. This means that 90% of ICBs in England still require female same-sex couples to self-fund at least six cycles of IUI before they are eligible for NHS IVF treatment. Due to these barriers, around 24,000 LBQ+ women are ageing out of the system every year, possibly missing their chance to have children.
We are asking that all ICBs should provide equal access to NHS treatment across England and that the Secretary Of State For Health And Social Care provide a clear timeline for the full implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy commitments on IVF.
In our 2021 Stonewall x DIVA’s LGBTQI+ Insight Survey 2021, one in five respondents said that the greatest barrier or challenge in starting a family was the high cost of private fertility treatment. Some couples could spend up to £25,000 before being eligible to qualify for NHS-funded IVF.
Last year, internet sensations Whitney and Megan Bacon-Evans spoke to Stonewall about the current issues facing couples seeking IVF. “We were shocked and devastated to discover the discrimination that lesbian couples and bisexual women face in starting their family. Our local NHS policy states that female same-sex couples must self-fund 12 rounds of artificial insemination, 6 of which must be IUI in a private clinic,” they explained. “As we have chosen a sperm donor from a sperm bank, our only option is to have artificial insemination in a private fertility clinic.”
“Female same-sex couples are being forced to pay tens of thousands of pounds in artificial inseminations in expensive private clinics to prove that they are infertile before they are eligible for any fertility treatment on the NHS. However, cis heterosexual couples can qualify for IVF on the NHS if they have not become pregnant after two years of unprotected sex. While this is a long time, it is at no additional financial cost.”
Here is Stonewall’s template email to send to your MP.
As your constituent, I am writing to request your support to challenge unequal access to IVF treatment for LGBTQ+ people. LGBTQ+ people deserve the same help to be parents as anybody else, but right now there are significant practical and financial costs facing many LGBTQ+ people who want to have children, particularly lesbians, bi women and some trans people.
Our local ICB, NHS South East London, states that people in same-sex couples have to prove infertility by self-funding 3 cycles of artificial insemination before they can access NHS-funded IVF.
This means that LGBTQ+ couples in your constituency may have to pay up to £4,800 before they can access NHS services, while those in opposite sex couples do not have to pay anything. This creates significant practical and financial barriers for prospective LGBTQ+ parents. For many, this cost prevents them from starting a family.
The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy commitment to remove the need for self-funded artificial insemination has not yet been fully implemented by local integrated care boards (ICBs) and policies varies dramatically around the country. Accessing IVF is therefore still a ‘postcode lottery’ – meaning that couples living in neighbouring streets could face vastly different challenges when trying to conceive.
Stonewall’s analysis shows 90% of ICBs are still falling short of the Women’s Health Strategy’s target. Eight ICBs are not even in line with the 2013 NICE Guidelines and require up to 12 self-funded cycles of artificial insemination. Because of the delays, many lesbians, bi women and some trans people are at a high risk of ageing out of the system before they will be able to access any NHS fertility treatment. According to the latest Census data, an estimated 24,000 LGB+ women are ageing out of the system every year because of the slow pace of change. Time is therefore running out for countless LGBTQ+ couples.
I am asking you to call on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to set out a clear timeline for the full implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy and an end to the postcode lottery. All ICBs should provide equal access to NHS treatment across England and no LGBTQ+ person should face additional financial barriers to growing their family.
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