Whitney and Megan Bacon-Evans of ‘What Wegan Did Next’ share their experience of fertility inequality for LGBTQ+ couples
We’ve recently become proud mummies to our beautiful daughter Olivia. We went on a long journey to get here, but boy was she worth it!
There’s no obvious road map when trying to conceive as a lesbian couple. We knew we wanted to create a family together but we weren’t quite sure how.
We started our baby journey in 2020. We were excited to finally embark on our journey to become two mums, but also didn’t really know what this would entail, due to the great lack of representation. There is a great lack of information as to how LGBTQ+ couples create their family. We didn’t know where to start, and neither did our GP!
We presumed that as we are legally a married couple, that as a family we would also be viewed as equal in the eyes of the law; but we discovered that is sadly not the case.
Initially we wanted to start trying to conceive via home insemination however we were shocked to find out that this isn’t actually possible. In 2005 the rules changed on sperm being sent to homes from sperm banks. Therefore, we realised that we’re being immediately forced into a clinical setting and we have to pay for everything privately.
Due to Covid causing delays, we finally began treatments starting with IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) in 2022. We got pregnant from our first round, and we couldn’t believe our luck! We were so excited! But unfortunately, it turned out to be a chemical pregnancy and a few weeks later, Megan was sadly no longer pregnant. We went on to have two more unsuccessful rounds of IUI, then moved onto IVF.
Our first IVF round was unsuccessful with no embryos left to freeze, so Megan had to go through egg collection again and only two embryos were deemed viable, but not at the stage they’d want them to be. We had two morulas transferred and to our absolute shock and delight – one embryo stuck and there we were with a 6-week old baby!
During our baby journey we were shocked to discover barriers and discrimination in place preventing same-sex female couples from having a family. This also impacts single women and individuals with wombs. Coined as a ‘gay tax’, there is an unfair financial burden that is being placed on the LGBTQ+ community.
This is in relation to the eligibility criteria in order to receive fertility treatment on the NHS in England. Majority ICB’s require female same-sex couples to self-fund 6-12 rounds of artificial insemination. This forces female same-sex couples to pay tens of thousands of pounds in artificial inseminations in expensive private clinics to prove that they are infertile before they are eligible for any fertility treatment on the NHS.
However, the criteria for cis heterosexual couples is two years of unprotected sex. While trying to conceive can take its toll, there’s no financial cost or evidence required. This financial barrier on the LGBTQ+ community pushes some into debt and others into dangerous situations or giving up on being able to create a family at all.
Costs can range from £25,000-£50,000, sometimes even up to £100,000 – and still no hopes of a child. We self-funded our baby journey and spent roughly £40,000 in total!
We decided to try and use our platform for good, to help future LGBTQ+ families. We launched a petition in 2020 to campaign for Fertility Equality and in 2021 we took legal action against our local ICB. Since issuing a judicial review, our ICB, Frimley have committed to reviewing their policy in line with removing inequality.
We also spoke about these issues in Parliament for an LGBT+ Commission Inquiry report last year. In July 2022, the government released their Women’s Healthcare Strategy with one of the aims being to remove the additional barriers to NHS fertility treatment for same-sex female couples. This still hasn’t been rolled out, but we keep continuing to put pressure on the government and recently had a positive meeting with the Health Secretary. We’re still campaigning behind the scenes and also part of a wider Fertility Justice campaign for the LGBTQ+ community.
Since giving birth on 2nd May 2025, we have enjoyed every single day being mummies and getting to know our daughter. Our love for her is unmeasurable and we absolutely love the newborn bubble, even the sleepless nights, and can’t wait for all the adventures and memories ahead that we’ll all create together.
