State-funded fertility treatment should not discriminate against queer couples

'The Government’s first step toward making fertility treatment more accessible shouldn’t be to exclude people in gay relationships.'

Clare Egan: "About 25% of heterosexual couples who want to become parents require fertility treatment. All same-sex couples who want to become parents do. We need medical intervention to do something many straight couples can do accidentally, and yet we are not allowed to access the State’s first publicly funded fertility programme."

The introduction of State funding for couples experiencing infertility has been broadly welcomed. The guidelines, which were approved by the Cabinet in July, offer fully funded fertility treatment for couples struggling to conceive. 

However, funding is not available in cases where donor gametes — either egg or sperm — are used. In practice, this means that State funding for fertility treatment is only available to heterosexual couples.