Married Lesbian Couple Launches Historic Discrimination Case Against NHS

A married lesbian couple in the UK is suing a branch of the NHS fertility sector in England, accusing their clinical commissioning group, Frimley, of financially penalizing them for their sexuality. 

The Guardian reports that Megan Bacon-Evans, 34, and her wife Whitney, 33, started a petition for equal treatment in November of last year. They were “shocked and devastated” after learning about the so-called “gay tax,” which refers to lesbian couples’ barriers when starting a family. 

Under the current rule, same-sex female couples – as well as single people with wombs – must pay for 12 intrauterine insemination (IUI) or IVF treatments to “prove” medical infertility before receiving NHS help. That could cost an estimated £30,000 or more.

Cisgender heterosexual couples do not face the same barriers, according to the newspaper. Such couples are required to attempt to conceive for two years. 

“We’re doing this for every LGBT+ couple who had to give up on their hopes and dreams of creating a family,” said Megan Bacon-Evans, per the newspaper. “It’s time for discrimination to end and for there to be equal treatment with heterosexual couples in the healthcare system.”

Frimley, which covers 800,000 patients, denies the discrimination claim, as Los Angeles Blade reports. 

Leigh Day, a social justice law firm, will apply for judicial review Monday on behalf of the couple. The case, which will be a major test of the NHS’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people, claims discrimination under the Equality Act the European convention on human rights, according to the Guardian. 

The couple also has the support of Stonewall UK and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), according to a fundraiser they started to cover potential legal fees. 

“Whitney and Megan’s case highlights the human impact of restricting access to NHS-funded fertility services, and we are proud to support their fight to make sure that no one is excluded from the right to form a family,” said Eloise Stonborough, associate director of policy and research at Stonewall.

“Fertility services are crucial in supporting the development of different family structures,” said Marta Jansa Perez, PhD, director of embryology at BPAS. “However, our research has found that female same-sex couples and single women are disproportionately impacted by policies which require that they self-finance costly, and less effective, artificial insemination, in some cases for at least 2 years, before becoming eligible for funded IVF.”

The newspaper reports that the case could be heard as soon as January if permission is granted.

Anna Dews, of Leigh Day, told the Guardian that the case could set a “powerful” precedent across the UK.

The couple – who have both risen to social media fame as “whatWegandidnext” with over 220,000 followers across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok – have been together for over 13 years and married for four years, spending over £8,000 on donor sperm and mandatory pre-insemination tests.

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