Reciprocal IVF

Who might have reciprocal IVF and how does it work?

As a same-sex female or other LGBTQIA+ couple, you may wish to have reciprocal IVF treatment for various reasons, for example if both you and your partner wish to take part in conception and pregnancy.

Reciprocal IVF follows many of the same steps as in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Usually, the first step is to use medication to stimulate the ovaries of one partner to produce eggs. The eggs will be collected whilst under sedation or general anaesthetic. The procedure takes around half an hour and you may feel a little sore or bruised. In reciprocal IVF, your donor sperm will be taken from storage, thawed, and then the eggs will be mixed with the sperm. The aim is for the sperm to fertilise the eggs to create embryos. The resulting embryo(s) will be monitored and between two to five days later usually one embryo will be transferred to the other partner’s womb. If implantation is successful, they will carry the pregnancy. Any remaining embryos which are of suitable quality may be able to be frozen and stored for future use.

General information about IVF is available on our website.

There are other treatment options for same-sex female and other LGBTQIA+ couples who want to conceive and you can find free and impartial information on our website.

What screening tests are needed as part of reciprocal IVF?

Everyone who has IVF needs to undergo some health checks before starting treatment. Couples undergoing reciprocal IVF need to have the same screening tests as heterosexual couples who are having IVF. This means that clinics will need to test the partner who is providing eggs for HIV and Hepatitis B and C (although a positive result would not necessarily mean that you cannot have treatment). Depending on someone’s medical background or travel history, clinics may need to carry out additional tests. You should speak to your clinic for information about the screening tests required in your specific circumstances.

Before the law changed in November 2024, it was a legal requirement that the partner providing eggs in reciprocal IVF needed to have enhanced screening tests before treatment (the same tests as someone donating eggs to someone they don’t know). The law changed to remove these tests meaning that clinics are no longer legally required to carry out enhanced screening. If you are part of the way through or about to begin reciprocal IVF treatment on this date, your treatment plan may need to be updated. Please speak to your clinic for further information.

How successful is reciprocal IVF?

As with all fertility treatments, your individual chances of success depend on factors specific to your situation. For example, your age or any medical conditions that might affect your fertility. This means that we would suggest you speak directly to a fertility clinic who will be able to advise you based on your individual circumstances.

When choosing a fertility clinic, success rates are one of a number of factors you are likely to consider. For reciprocal IVF, we would suggest looking at fresh and frozen IVF cycles for patients the same age as the partner who is providing eggs. While success rates can be a helpful guide, we would always suggest speaking to a clinic to understand your individual chances of success. We have some general information about how to choose a clinic that you might find helpful.

For the latest statistics on IVF, visit our Research and data page.

Who will be the legal parent(s) if treatment is successful?

In the UK, the person who gives birth to the child will always be the child’s legal mother (and their legal parent) when the child is born. This is still the case in reciprocal IVF even though their partner’s eggs were used to create the embryo.

Where the legal mother is married or in a civil partnership, their partner will automatically be the other legal parent when the child is born. However, if you are not married or in a civil partnership, the partner who did not carry the pregnancy will not automatically be the other legal parent. For this to happen, you will both need to consent to this before the treatment takes place.

The law specifically states that the person who gives birth is the legal mother – there is no exception for people who give birth who are not women eg, trans men or non-binary people. We suggest you speak to your clinic if you have any questions about this or about any other aspects of legal parenthood.

It is very important that you discuss legal parenthood with your clinic, and they will provide you with any consent forms that you need to complete. For general information about how to become the legal parents of your child, please see this page of our website.

Who can make decisions about any embryos in storage?

Often with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment (including reciprocal IVF), there may be some good quality embryos left after embryo transfer. Instead of disposing them, there is the option to freeze them to use in the future (in case treatment doesn’t work for example, or to try for a sibling). You can read more about embryo freezing on our website, including what happens when embryos are frozen and how long you can store them for.

It's important to be aware that the partner whose eggs were used to create the embryo has the final say on what happens to the embryos. For example, they will need to sign consent forms to say how long they want the embryos should be stored for. They can also choose to withdraw their consent to the storage at any time up until the point that the embryos are transferred or say that they don’t want the embryos to be transferred. The other partner in reciprocal IVF cannot make these decisions even if, for example, they have already given birth to a child using those embryos.

How much does it cost to have reciprocal IVF? Can I access NHS funding?

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to the question of whether you can access NHS funding for fertility treatment. What is available on the NHS is decided locally and so it depends on where in the UK you live. As funding is outside of our remit, we are unable to influence or predict whether funding will be available to you now, or in the future. We would suggest you look at information about NHS funding and the cost of treatment on our website which provides more detail and says where you can go next for further support.

For private fertility treatment, the cost will vary from clinic to clinic so we recommend that you speak to a number of clinics who should be able to give you an accurate picture of what treatment involves and how much it will cost. You can use our Choose a Fertility Clinic search tool to narrow down clinics offering treatment in a location that suits you.

Where can I go for further advice or support?

We have general information about IVF and fertility treatment for LGBTQIA+ people. Reciprocal IVF involves using donor sperm to conceive and you can find information about this aspect of treatment on our website and from the Donor Conception Network.

LGBT Mummies also offers support and information about starting a family for LGBTQIA+ people.