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IVF & Surrogacy For Gay Couples

Our dedicated surrogacy, egg and sperm donation teams are extremely experienced in helping LGBTQ+ families achieve their family building goals. We will guide you through the full range of fertility services that assist with the individual complexities unique to the needs of our LGBTQ+ patients. You can feel confident that you’ll receive high quality care no matter your identity or relationship status.

With the assistance of egg, sperm, embryo donation or Surrogacy as needed, family building becomes an inclusive reality with Care.

Treatment guide for gay couples

If you’re a gay couple interested in fertility/surrogacy treatment, there are a number of factors and options to consider

Whether you have already found your egg donor or need help with where to start your selection process for an anonymous donor, Care clinics have dedicated egg donation teams to ensure you and your partner are guided and supported in finding a match that meets your requirements.

We can provide straight or host surrogacy. 

Straight surrogacy (also known as genetic, full or traditional)

Is when the surrogate uses her own eggs and the sperm of an intended parent (IP) to achieve the pregnancy. With straight surrogacy there would be a genetic connection between the surrogate and the baby

Host surrogacy (also known as gestational or partial surrogacy) 

Is when embryos are created using either the eggs of an intended parent or an egg donor with the sperm of an intended parent or with a donor’s sperm. With host surrogacy there is no genetic connection between the surrogate and the baby.

You will need a surrogate to carry the embryo and pregnancy to term. Care clinics have dedicated surrogacy coordinators to guide you through this process. Find out more about the surrogacy process here.

You and your partner may have already found your surrogate, in this case please contact the clinic of your choice so we can start you on your journey with an online consultation.

If you have not found your surrogate yet, we’ll direct you to a non-profit surrogacy agencies in the UK that we know have helped many of our male couples in the past.

If you are using donor eggs, you can create your embryos with Care whilst you are looking for your surrogate.

Once our team has matched you with an egg donor, you’ll then be able to start IVF treatment and create your embryos. You can find out more about IVF here. The clinical teams will assist you with information about the creation of your embryos. If you are still waiting on finding a surrogate we will create your embryos and have them available for when you're ready to start treatment which is the most popular pathway.

It is highly recommended that independent legal advice is taken by all surrogacy parties to fully explore their individual circumstances. It is important for intended parents to understand the legal aspects of surrogacy and in particular that surrogacy agreements are not enforceable in law and that the surrogate and her spouse or civil partner (if she has one) will be the legal parent of a child until a parental order is granted.

Care will only provide treatment where we are assured that the intended parents will – subject to the surrogate’s consent – be able to get a parental order. Where there are any factors that could impact on this (if the intended parents or surrogate are not domiciled in the UK for example) then we may require the intended parents and surrogate to get their own legal advice and to share that advice with us before we can progress treatment.

Surrogacy is particularly complex area of family law and while we cannot recommend legal

advisers, we can give you details of a number of advisers who we believe have the relevant

experience. The HFEA website is a good source of information.

When you're starting out

It’s important to feel prepared and our Surrogacy team can guide you through the process, giving you all the information and advice you need at each stage. They can help you break the Surrogacy journey into small, manageable steps and make sure you have all the information and guidance you need to feel empowered and in control. We will do everything we can to make sure that you can have the positive, personalised family building journey you deserve.

Learn all you can about your clinic, the team, costs of treatment, and the treatment process. Here are some ways you can get the information you may find helpful:

  • Our Surrogacy team. The team can answer your questions about costs, the Surrogacy journey, the Legal process and other important information.
  • Surrogacy agencies. If you have not found your surrogate yet, we’ll direct you to a non-profit surrogacy agencies in the UK that we know have helped many of our gay male couples in the past. There are some non-profit agencies that we’ve worked with who can provide practical advice to help gay couples find their surrogate including Surrogacy UK and COTS
  • Read patent stories - it can really help to read about other people’s Surrogacy journeys.
  • Reviews. These can provide good insight into the treatment experience through the eyes of real patients
  • The Care Forum. Our forum is a great support tool. You can see the questions people are asking, and if you want to, you can reach out to others going through the same journey.

We understand that surrogacy can be a big decision. To provide you reassurance and guidance during the process, we follow strict guidelines to offer an ethical and positive surrogacy experience for everyone involved In this amazing family building journey.

One of the most important things you can do during your fertility journey is to have a support system. Support comes in many forms: friends, family and even those who are not directly involved in your journey. You will also have access to Care counsellors.

Becoming a Care patient

If you’re looking for more information and guidance on how to get started, please call us on 0800 564 2270 and our enquiry team will connect you with the Care Surrogacy team.