There is no question you can’t ask about LGBT+ fertility treatment. Bourn Hall clinic’s friendly team will be on hand at Essex Pride on 21 August 2021 to chat to visitors about the different options available for starting a family.
Essex Pride is celebration of the LGBT+ community, attracting around 4,500 visitors to Chelmsford’s Central Park. Alongside the array of musical and entertainment acts there is also a Showcase area with organisations offering support and information – including, for the first time this year, Bourn Hall Clinic.
“It is really important for Essex Pride to give people access to information,” says Essex Pride Chair Garry Ormes. “If I am an LGBT+ person thinking about having children; how can I go about it? What are my options? Bourn Hall helps people have families and I am delighted that it has become a sponsor and will be there on the day in the ‘showcase arena’ as visitors enter the event.”
Success after gaining info at Pride
Melissa and Zoe from Essex are now mums to Logan and Harley after two successful fertility treatments at Bourn Hall and they agree that access to as much information as possible is important. The couple first began to consider their own options after going to a Pride event in London a few years ago.
“When I celebrated my 30th birthday I suddenly felt as though I didn’t want to leave it too late,” says Melissa. “There were all sorts of stalls at the event about parenting, including adoption, and we started to think about how we were going to go about starting a family.”
The couple decided that they would like to have treatment at a regulated fertility clinic using donor sperm and opted to go to Bourn Hall after it was recommended by friends. The couple had IUI (Intrauterine insemination), where donor sperm is inserted directly into the woman’s womb, and the treatment worked first time on both occasions.
Safer with a registered clinic
Deciding to start a family is a big step and by using a licensed UK fertility clinic same-sex couples have the reassurance that they will both be a child’s legal parents and that the donor will have no legal status, although children born from donor conception may seek the identity of their biological parent(s) once they are 18 years old.
Melissa is full of praise for the treatment and care they received at Bourn Hall.
“Everyone at Bourn Hall was just fantastic,” she says. “They made us feel so comfortable and we felt more protected doing everything through a regulated fertility clinic.
“I am really pleased that Bourn Hall is going to be at Essex Pride this year.”
Read more about Melissa and Zoe’s story here.
Many options for LGBT+ fertility treatment
Bourn Hall has a state of the art fertility centre in Wickford, Essex supporting patients across Essex and beyond. Lead Clinician Dr Arpita Ray says that the LGBT+ community have a range of fertility options, and these are being discussed at Pride.
She says: “Females with regular periods can become pregnant with IUI, and this is less invasive and cheaper than IVF treatment. IVF is more costly because it requires medication to stimulate the ovaries to produce many mature eggs at the same time, and these are then fertilised with donor sperm. The success rates with IVF can be higher and there may be frozen embryos available for further treatment or siblings. We would always talk through the patient’s options and help them to select treatment that is right for them.”
Bourn Hall also supports same-sex male couples who may require surrogacy, and transgender people for fertility preservation.
Senior Fertility Nurse Specialist, Jackie Richardson, will be part of the team staffing Bourn Hall’s stand at Essex Pride. She says: “It is never too early to talk about your fertility options. For transgender people considering gender reassignment we can discuss options for preserving your fertility, as decisions about hormone treatments may impact your fertility.”
“For same-sex female couples we can advise about how your age and health can impact your options, same-sex male couples may require donor eggs and the support of a surrogate. There are also fertility preservation options for trans people.“
“The thing I would say is that there is no question you can’t ask. If it is something that is concerning you, then Essex Pride is a good place to start a conversation and all of us at Bourn Hall are delighted to help.”
Come along to Bourn Hall’s stand to discuss LGBT+ fertility treatment.
Find out more about Essex Pride at essexpride.org.
