A 37-year old woman is taking legal action against Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt after she was refused IVF treatment for being “too old”.
The woman had tried to conceive naturally for three years without success, with test results revealing that her husband was suffering from fertility problems.
Guidelines issued by the watchdog NICE recommend that the NHS should pay for three courses of IVF for women aged 23-39.
But the woman’s local primary care trust (PCT), Berkshire East, only offers to fund IVF for women who have been attempting to conceive for three years and are aged 30-34.
Legal Action
She has begun legal proceedings against Mr Hunt after being told that she could not access the treatment because of her age.
Each course of IVF costs the NHS £3000 - £4000. The percentage of live births that result from IVF treatments using a woman’s fresh eggs is 25.2%, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
“It’s unfortunate that under the current guidelines situations like this can occur. This couple have been treated unfairly and the heartbreak for them will be huge” said Chief Executive of Christian Concern, Andrea Williams.
“But this should cause us to consider the cost and ethics of IVF treatment. It is an expensive procedure and has low success rates. Not all the children conceived go on to be born and many embryos are wasted.
“We cannot let our ‘on-demand’ culture affect our view of children. They are not products but people. Hundreds of thousands of unwanted children are aborted each year, not to mention those children waiting to be adopted”.
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