As many as 1 in 7 couples will experience infertility at some point in their lives, making fertility treatments essential for many to conceive. To receive IVF, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence states that if a woman is under 40, she is eligible for three NHS funded IVF cycles.
The power of each Clinical Commissioning Group to make their own decisions on IVF (such as age criteria of women they treat or the number of cycles) is being affected by lack of funding. This means that only 12% of CCGs currently offer adequate treatment, and many are not offering fertility treatment altogether. The ripple effect of this is essentially a postcode lottery: the location of your GP is crucial to the decision process. In theory, two couples living twenty minutes apart and in the same circumstances may be deemed eligible or not based entirely upon where they live. 2018 commemorated 40 years of IVF being available, but this groundbreaking discovery means nothing if only those who can afford to pay for the treatment privately can benefit from it.
With restricted funding under the principles of Conservative austerity, fertility treatments have been cut from CCG’s priority list on the basis that they are non-essential treatments. Whilst they are not necessary for survival, infertility is defined by the World Health Organisation as a ‘disease of the reproductive system’ which ‘generates disability’, meaning access to infertility treatment falls under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability of 2008.
Fundamentally, access to IVF treatment in Britain is failing many couples and potential families. Infertility is a long, lonely and hard battle, but it shouldn’t have to be. To help, sign the petition:
Written by Imogen Aley
Artwork by Sophia Patterson
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