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Female same-sex options
Deciding to start a family is a big step. As a female same-sex couple Bourn Hall offers you a number of fertility treatment options, including IUI or IVF using donor sperm.
We can help you find a sperm donor and give you access to a regulated sperm bank, which provides greater assurances to you as a couple.
Another treatment option for same-sex female couples is Shared Motherhood. This treatment option enables you to both share a role and the experience of pregnancy.
Watch this short animation below to find out more about your journey as a same-sex female couple.
Treatment options
Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
Intrauterine insemination, or IUI, is the placing of your prepared donor sperm into your uterus at the time of ovulation. This ensures that the timing is right and the sperm are close to where they need to be.
It is straightforward and painless. There is no egg collection involved with IUI, but fertility drugs may be needed to stimulate egg production and ovulation. Using fertility drugs is thought to make IUIs more likely to work.
In vitro fertilisation (IVF)
In vitro fertilisation, better known as IVF, is the bringing together of eggs and sperm in a carefully controlled environment to generate high-quality embryos. This is an option you may wish to consider, and will be the treatment you will receive, if you are following a shared motherhood journey.
To stimulate egg production and prepare your uterus to receive the embryos you will follow a personalised treatment and dosage plan of IVF drugs.
During this time you’ll need to visit one of our clinics for scans and blood tests – usually up to four times. We’ll monitor you closely to assess your response to the medication, suggest any potential modifications to your treatment, and decide when to proceed to egg collection.
Egg collection is a minor surgical procedure, carried out by one of our specialists. It is performed vaginally using an ultrasound guidance. We immediately pass the collected eggs to our on-site embryology laboratory.
Following the fertilisation of your eggs with your donor sperm, we transfer either one or two of the resulting embryos to your uterus. Then, around 2 weeks after the egg collection, you’ll be able to take a pregnancy test. If that is positive, you should attend the clinic for an early pregnancy scan.
Donor sperm
Whatever route you choose, you will need a sperm donor – we can help you find a donor, or you can find one on your own (with our support and advice).
We will go into the legal implications of using the sperm of somebody and what is expected of donors, recipients and donor-conceived children. Counselling for recipients of donor sperm is highly recommended. Bourn Hall has a choice of specialist counsellors available to support you.
Despite the national shortage of sperm donors, we run a number of initiatives to support our own sperm bank. Sperm from our bank is rigorously screened and only released for treatment after a qualifying quarantine period. Alternatively, we collaborate with a network of high-quality sperm banks and can help you with the selection process.
We additionally have a sperm-sharing programme. Men, whose partners go through fertility treatment, are encouraged to share their sperm with others, as long as they fulfil the same strict health and performance criteria applied to all donors.
Apart from receiving sperm from an anonymous donor, you have the option of providing your own potential donor (known donor). We will assess your candidate for sperm donation, using the same criteria applied to all donors. If they pass the necessary checks, they will be able to proceed with sperm storage. The sperm can be released for use 3 months after the last storage, as long as the ‘exit’ health check is normal.
For patients receiving donor gametes (sperm or eggs) or embryos, who are unmarried or not in a civil partnership, it is important to ensure that the legal parenthood of both parties is properly established. The HFEA has produced a comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide that you can download here.
Fertility packages and funding
We have created a Shared Motherhood package that includes the main treatments that you would require. These include:
- Donor screening
- Recipient screening
- IVF Treatment Package
- Embryo Freezing (if necessary)
- One fresh or frozen embryo transfer as appropriate
We also offer packages for the most popular fertility treatments, including IVF, IUI, and FET.
With Bourn Hall you can also choose to fund your treatment through a range of pre-paid plans with our partner Access Fertility. Access Fertility helps to take the uncertainty out of the cost by offering fixed price treatment packages. These include:
Whilst Access Fertility funding isn’t available to cover the whole Shared Motherhood package, their fixed price packages can cover part of the cost of the shared motherhood package.
For further information and a breakdown of Fertility Access’ programme prices, click here.
Shared Motherhood
A typical cost saving of 70% compared to standard self-funded treatment.
Bourn Hall are pleased to offer the opportunity of shared motherhood, which is a wonderful way for you to share the experience of pregnancy as a couple, as well as helping others create their very own family too.
Our shared motherhood options:
Shared motherhood: one partner provides the eggs and the other carries the pregnancy.
Shared motherhood and egg-sharing: one partner provides half their eggs to the other and shares the remainder with others wanting to start a family.
Shared motherhood with both partners egg-sharing: both partners share and both have the opportunity to carry the pregnancy.
Dual donation: one partner provides the eggs to the other. She, then, donates her eggs to others wanting to start a family.
This process would involve both partners undergoing scans, appointments and a stimulation process, with one partner going through the IVF process to produce eggs. These are then fertilised with your donor’s sperm in the embryology laboratory, before the embryo is transferred into the womb of the other (female) partner to carry the pregnancy.
Read our Shared Motherhood FAQs.
For more information on costs, get in touch with our donor team.
If you’re unsure about who will provide eggs and who will carry the pregnancy, we would advise both of you to have the following tests:
– Blood test to measure your ovarian reserve
– Blood tests to determine your thyroid levels
– Internal scan to check your uterus and ovaries.
Once you’ve both had positive results from these tests, you will have an extended consultation to discuss and plan your treatment.
Typically, treatment costs from £13,500, including donor sperm costs. We will provide you with a more detailed quote following your consultation.
If you would like to have treatment using your partner’s eggs, she would first need a blood test, followed by a consultation and screening tests.
Once accepted onto the programme, we charge a single, initial fee of £1,500.
This covers her preparation for treatment and the additional donor-screening tests that need to be undertaken to allow her to donate.
(In the unlikely event any of these tests exclude her from the programme, we are unable to refund this fee but will raise a credit note, which can be put towards further treatment as a fully self-funding patient).
You will need to pay your donor sperm costs and, if purchased from Bourn Hall, these are as follows:
- Donor sperm reservation fee and first year’s storage for five vials – £420. (An annual storage fee of £420 after one year is applicable if any vials of donor sperm remain in storage on the anniversary of your reservation)
- Donor sperm usage fee – £800.
There is also a partner transfer fee of £1,300 (to cover additional costs if you are receiving the embryo transfer as part of a shared motherhood arrangement).
All other elements of your treatment are free of charge.
These costs include up to one embryo transfer. For further frozen embryo transfers you would be charged at our normal FET package rate.
If you both want to egg-share, you will each be charged the £1,500 initial fee for your preparation for treatment, additional donor-screening tests, egg collection and medications, and the £1,300 partner transfer fee when you transfer your partner’s embryo.
You will need to pay your donor sperm costs and, if purchased from Bourn Hall, these are as follows:
- Donor sperm reservation fee and first year’s storage for five vials – £420. (An annual storage fee of £420 after one year is applicable if any vials of donor sperm remain in storage on the anniversary of your reservation)
- Donor sperm usage fee – £800.
All other elements of your treatment are then free of charge.
These costs include up to one embryo transfer each using your partner’s embryos. For any further frozen embryo transfers, you would be charged at our normal FET package rate.
If you would like to donate your eggs to other couples wanting to start a family, and your partner would like to egg-share, then you would both first need to have a blood test, followed by a consultation and screening tests.
Once your partner has been accepted onto the programme, we charge a single initial fee of £1,500.
This covers her preparation for treatment, and the additional donor-screening tests that need to be undertaken to allow her to donate.
(In the unlikely event any of these tests exclude her from continuing with the programme, we are unable to refund this fee but will raise a credit note, which can be put towards further treatment as a fully self-funding patient).
When you agree to donate your eggs to others, you are entitled to a refund of £750, which you can put towards the treatment. You will also receive the transferred embryo at no further cost. (This would usually cost an additional £1,300 to cover treatments for another patient).
You will need to pay your donor sperm costs, and, if purchased from Bourn Hall, these are as follows:
- Donor sperm reservation fee and first year’s storage for five vials – £420. (An annual storage fee of £420 after one year is applicable if any vials of donor sperm remain in storage on the anniversary of your reservation)
- Donor sperm usage fee – £800.
All other elements of your treatment are then free of charge.
These costs include up to one embryo transfer each using your partner’s embryos each. For any further frozen embryo transfers, you would be charged at our normal FET package rate.
