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Bristol same-sex couple call for fairer access to fertility treatment

photographybysimon.com Emma (left) and Helen (right). Both women are blonde and wearing wedding dresses. They are both holding flowers and their dog, which is small with brown curly fur. They are looking directly at the camera and smiling.photographybysimon.com
Emma (L) and Helen (R) have been married for two years

A same-sex couple is calling for fairer access to fertility treatments, after spending £16,000.

Emma and Helen, from near Bristol, have paid privately for two unsuccessful rounds of artificial insemination and will now pay for IVF.

In Somerset, 30 miles away, couples have access to nine NHS-funded cycles.

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board said its treatment is designed to support as many people as possible.

"It's just really upsetting," Emma said.

"With IUI (intrauterine insemination), by about six rounds it's mostly successful, so if another local authority down the road are saying nine are funded then actually the majority of same sex couples without fertility issues would get pregnant, so actually their dreams of having a family would come true and they wouldn't be in that debt."

Family Handout Emma (left) and Helen (right). Emma has brunette hair and is wearing black sunglasses. She is smiling at the camera. Helen has blonde hair and is standing close to Emma and is holding up her hand, showing a ring on her finger.Family Handout
Emma (L) and Helen (R) have been married for two years

Same sex couples will often have to demonstrate their infertility before the NHS will fund IVF - and to do so must pay privately for between three and 12 rounds of artificial insemination.

Couples in Bristol, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire, where Emma and Helen live, have to pay for six cycles of artificial insemination treatments, before qualifying for one round of IVF on the NHS, if they are unable to prove both partners have fertility issues.

But Somerset NHS Trust is one of very few local authorities that can offer up to nine cycles of artificial insemination and one round of IVF.

Campaigners have called the need to privately fund rounds of artificial insemination a "gay tax" and urged the government to "remove financial barriers".

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  • Intrauterine insemination (IUI) - a fertility treatment that involves directly inserting sperm into a woman's womb
  • In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) - the process during which an egg is removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilised egg, called an embryo, is then returned to the woman's womb to grow and develop
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Emma and Helen, who got married two years ago, now wants to see changes to the provision in South Gloucestershire.

Emma said: "We can't afford to be in any more debt.

"It's the general costs - if it is successful - that come with having a baby, but then we've got all that additional debt on top of that before we even are successful.

"We can't afford to keep trying [after this third round]."

If it does not work they said they will have to put their dreams of motherhood to one side.

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board said: "Our infertility treatment is designed to support as many people experiencing infertility problems as possible within available resources and is consistent with guidance from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence."

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