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England will offer free IVF to gay couples and HIV-positive people
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
British health experts have recommended relaxing age restrictions on in vitro fertilization (IVF), Healthcare Today reports. The guidance was published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
According to NICE recommendations issued in 2004, IVF at the expense of public funds is allowed to be performed on women whose age does not exceed 39 years. In the new guidelines, the institute's specialists proposed increasing the age limit to 42 years.
The document recommends that budget medical institutions perform in vitro fertilization for homosexual couples and patients undergoing treatment for one or another malignant disease. As Bloomberg Businessweek notes, in the first case, the guidelines only reinforce the established practice, since many state clinics currently provide such services to gays.
NICE experts also recommended offering IVF to people with various infectious diseases, including HIV-infected people. In addition, the list of candidates for the free procedure is proposed to be expanded to include couples who have been unable to conceive a child for two years (previously this period was three years) and disabled people.
As previously reported, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the incidence of multiple pregnancies among British women rose by almost seven percent between 2000 and 2010. Experts attribute this trend to the growing popularity of reproductive technologies. In particular, one in four IVF pregnancies is multiple, while only one in 80 pregnancies with natural conception are multiple.
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