Make the NHS scrap the ‘gay tax’ on IVF

If you need healthcare to start a family, there’s a cruel gap. After trying to get pregnant for two years, the NHS offers IVF to women in heterosexual relationships. But women in same-sex relationships are forced to pay up to £19,000 for invasive treatment before they can get the same help.

NHS boards are making them show they can’t get pregnant without medical support by paying privately for repeated rounds of artificial insemination.

It’s hard enough battling with fertility, but for many queer women this massive added cost is making it impossible to have a child. No-one should face discrimination when trying to access healthcare, so we’re supporting Amy and Lauren* to take legal action against the NHS.

For Lauren, it’s difficult enough for queer women to start a family without the NHS “throwing financial barriers in our way”.

“We’ve been dealing with the pain of our struggle to conceive for months,” she says, “but we keep going, pushing for the NHS to change its rules so that same-sex couples like us can have the chance to start a family.”

It’s time to make sure our healthcare system works for everyone.

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