Singles given right to start family and ruling could stretch IVF funds


  • The UN has proposed a new definition applying to those without partners
  • Single women could have equal access to IVF, putting pressure on funds
  • The label of social infertility could also apply to men and same sex couples

Colin Fernandez for the Daily Mail

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Single men and women who want a baby but have not found a partner should be classed as ‘infertile’ by the NHS, under United Nations proposals.

Doctors deem couples infertile if they have been trying to conceive for 12 months without success.

But a new definition, set to be approved by the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO), would mean individuals who have not found Mr or Mrs Right will also fall into the category.

The move could lead to single women being given equal access to fertility treatment even if they have not tried to have a baby naturally – a departure from current regulations.

Under the UN proposal, labelled ‘absurd’ by one critic, single women could be given access to fertility treatment even if they have not tried to have a baby the natural way first

The definition would also apply to a single man who wants to be a father, as well as gay and lesbian couples.

It would in effect create a new category of ‘social infertility’ – those who are unable to conceive not for biological reasons, but because they have not got a partner or their spouse is the same sex.

The new definition, which was last night branded ‘absurd’ by family values campaigners, is expected to be adopted by the WHO in 2017. 

Legal experts last night said the change could mean the NHS has to review its regulations and make more provision for single would-be parents.

It could also mean commercial surrogacy – currently illegal in the UK – might have to be reconsidered to ensure more singles and gay couples can start a family.

At the moment, only a surrogate’s expenses can be covered.

Guidelines from NHS rationing body NICE say women under 40 should be offered three cycles of IVF treatment if they have not been able to have a baby after two years of unprotected sex. Women aged 40 to 42 are offered one cycle.

In reality, IVF is a postcode lottery – with many clinical commissioning groups cutting the service, which can cost £3,000 a cycle.

Same-sex couples and single men and women can also have free IVF – but only after they have tried for a baby through their own means, for example using donor sperm.

Dr David Adamson of ICMART, the UN body that is setting out the changes, said they were intended to ensure everyone struggling to have a child can access help. 

The previous definition said: ‘Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.’

Legal experts say the proposed change could mean the NHS has to review its regulations

The new definition states infertility is a biological inability to reproduce after 12 months of unprotected sex, but also if an individual is unable to conceive for other reasons. 

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dr Adamson said: ‘It says an individual’s got a right to reproduce whether or not they have a partner.

‘All the countries that belong to the UN … in a sense they’ve signed on to it. Countries are bound by it. It has legal standing.’ 

He said the definition ‘does not talk about husbands, does not talk about partners, we don’t talk about gay men, we really just talk about individuals’.

While Dr Adamson said single men seeking fertility treatment was ‘really niche’, he added: ‘Gender equality cuts both ways, so fairness means men must have the right too.’ 

Dr Jonathan Montgomery, professor of healthcare law at University College London, said: ‘You would expect the NHS to review its policies in light of this change.

‘The new WHO definition will make infertility a disability. It could well strengthen the case of gay couples to be allowed access to commercial surrogates.’

Campaigners criticised the move last night. Josephine Quintavalle, of the organisation Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: ‘This absurd nonsense is not simply redefining infertility but completely sidelining the biological process and significance of natural intercourse between a man and a woman.’

? There will be ten million babies in the world born through IVF by 2020, according to UN forecasts.

The technology was only invented in 1978 – when Briton Louise Brown was the first ‘test tube baby’. 

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