We’re challenging the NHS’s ‘gay tax’ on IVF

Good Law Project is supporting a lesbian couple to take legal action against an NHS board who blocked funding for IVF.

Amy and Lauren* had been trying to get pregnant for a while. But NHS North East London told them they need to pay for six rounds of artificial insemination at a private clinic before they can be considered for IVF on the NHS.

For many in the queer community, this is a familiar story. Most local NHS bodies insist that queer women need to pay for six rounds of artificial insemination before offering IVF treatment, with some requiring as many as 12.  A single cycle of artificial insemination costs from £800 to £1,600 – meaning that women could be forced to spend up to £19,000.

But women in heterosexual couples are able to access IVF for free after two years of trying to conceive, with no additional treatment required. Figures from the UK’s fertility regulator show the gap – only 16% of patients in female same-sex couples receive NHS funding for IVF, compared to 52% in opposite-sex couples.

For Lauren, the stress of paying for private treatment adds to the emotional toll of fertility struggles.

“It’s hard enough battling through fertility issues, no matter who you are,” she says. “But for women in same-sex couples like me, there’s an added layer of discrimination. The NHS is letting us down and saddling us with a heavy financial burden.”

While the situation can be even worse for single women, where some boards won’t offer any help at all, in 2022, the government promised to remove the discriminatory requirement for women in same-sex relationships to pay for artificial insemination. Four years later nothing’s changed. Meanwhile many women who couldn’t afford the huge fees are now too old for the NHS to consider them for IVF, making it impossible for them to have a child.

So we’re taking legal action. We’re bringing a judicial review against the NHS on the grounds of unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Zoe Johannes, discrimination lawyer at Good Law Project, hopes that this case will set a precedent for all local NHS bodies to change their policies for fertility healthcare.

“The NHS has a duty to provide care that is equal, inclusive and free from discrimination,” Johannes said. “Right now, it’s failing. We need to see this rule scrapped across the board, starting with NHS North East London.”

LGBTQ+ people deserve the same help to become parents as everybody else. It’s time the NHS scrapped the discriminatory “gay tax” on IVF.

*Amy and Lauren’s names have been changed to protect their anonymity.