Reciprocal IVF plans
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WQ.430/2025
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
BY DEPUTY L.M.C. DOUBLET OF ST. SAVIOUR
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2025
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2025
Question
"In relation to Reciprocal In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), will the Minister provide details on what plans, if any, he has to review areas of the process not funded for same-sex female couples, in particular the funding of donor eggs; and will he further provide details on the average cost of donor eggs?"
Answer
A number of changes were made to IVF access criteria on 1 October 2025 in order to allow more couples to access funded IVF, including couples where one partner already has a child from a previous relationship.
The criteria were further amended to provide that the infertility criteria no longer applied to same-sex female couples, meaning that same-sex female couples no longer need to demonstrate infertility through self-funded intrauterine insemination (IUI).
In addition, we provided for funded IVF to be available for reciprocal IVF (also called shared motherhood). Reciprocal IVF is where a same-sex female couple elect for one partner to provide the eggs, to be fertilized by donor sperm, and for those eggs to be implanted into the other partner who will then carry the pregnancy.
Reciprocal IVF incurs additional costs, including those associated with donor sperm (e.g. purchase of sperm and viability checks) and additional medication to prepare for the harvesting of eggs from the partner who is donating the eggs to be fertilised and implanted in the other partner. In addition, there may be costs associated with third party donor eggs, if required. Same-sex female couples are required to self-fund the additional costs, as is the case for opposite sex couples who require donor sperm, doner eggs or additional medication. There are currently no plans to review these requirements.
All of the above costs vary but, the cost of a third-party donor egg is approximately £1,000.