If you’re a LGBT+ person or couple and want to have a family with a biological connection to you or your partner, you may need to have fertility treatment. Get an overview of what to expect on this page.
IUI or donor insemination is often used by people in female same-sex relationships who want a family and can also be used to impregnate a surrogate. You can have it with or without fertility drugs and the whole procedure is relatively quick and painless.
Find out more about IUIIVF may be appropriate for people in female same-sex relationships with fertility problems and can be used in surrogacy.
Find out more about IVFSurrogacy is the main treatment for people in a male same-sex relationship who want a family. It involves finding a surrogate who is prepared to carry and give birth to a child for you. You can either mix one partner’s sperm with the surrogate’s eggs or with donated eggs.
Find out more about surrogacyYou may need to find a sperm or egg donor (or both) to use in your treatment. There are lots of options for finding a donor.
Find out more about using a donorSome medical treatments for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy and surgery, can have an impact on your fertility. If you’re considering starting treatment to physically alter your body, or you’ve already started, find out what your options are for preserving your fertility.
Information for trans and non-binary people seeking fertilityReciprocal IVF (also known as ‘shared motherhood’ or ‘shared parenthood’) is where eggs are collected from one partner in a same-sex female or other LGBTQIA+ couple and fertilised with donor sperm. The resulting embryo is then transferred into the other partner’s womb, who carries the baby and gives birth.
Find out more about reciprocal IVFEven if you don’t have fertility problems, fertility treatment itself can be an emotionally draining process. One in three pregnancies end in a miscarriage, plus there’s the possibility treatment might not work. Make sure you’re talking to family and friends if you need to and consider getting additional support from outside your existing network. Here are some organisations’ that offer support and advice:
You could also consider getting counselling either together or individually.
There are some important decisions you’ll need to make before you start treatment. If you’re using a donor/surrogate, do you want to ask someone you know or find someone through a clinic? Whose eggs or sperm are you going to use? Are you thinking about having treatment abroad and are you aware of all the issues? Make sure you’ve thought all the issues through and you’re both comfortable with whatever decisions you make.
Private sperm donation is where you use donated sperm outside of a licensed clinic – it is unregulated and therefore you should be very careful. Donors who donate via a clinic will have to go through tough health tests, they’ll receive proper counselling and all the legal issues will be taken care of. If you use a private sperm donor, there is a risk the donor could be considered the father of your baby, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that.
If you’re not married or in a civil partnership and you want the non-biological partner to be legally recognised as the legal parent of your child, it is essential that you both fill in the correct forms. If you don’t, your donor or surrogate could be considered s the legal parent of your child and sorting that out is extremely time-consuming and expensive. Your clinic will talk you through what’s needed.
Find out more about the legal implications of using donated sperm
Becoming the legal parents of your childFertility treatment can be expensive. If you’re in a male same-sex relationship and having surrogacy you’ll have to pay for treatment privately and if you’re in a female same-sex relationship you’ll need to pay for six cycles of IUI before you qualify for NHS funding (and even then it will depend on what’s available in your area). You can find out more information about treatment costs on our intrauterine insemination and surrogacy pages.
Costs and fundingThis report covers UK in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and donor insemination (DI) statistics for heterosexual, female same-sex and single patients.
View the Family formations in fertility treatment 2018 report here.
Publication date: 31 October 2024
Review date: 31 October 2026
