Pride Angel

Welcome to the latest copy of Fertility Road. In this issue we have an exclusive interview with Sarah Jessica Parker and her chance for surrogacy. We’ve great ideas for that romantic getaway, a chat with Tony Reid, the creator of Fertility Friends – the biggest on line fertility Forum, plus news and reviews.

Also we have one woman’s story on preserving her fertility with Ovarian Tissue Freezing, Cooking to Conceive and the lowdown on surrogacy in South Africa.

There are some great prizes to be won in this issue, simply drop us and email, with your contact details, and you could be the lucky winner of two tickets on the Eurostar to Paris.

For more information or to order a copy of the magazine visit www.fertilityroad.com

Read more about fertility, sperm donation and gay parenting at www.prideangel.com

> A British woman has had frozen ovary tissue inserted back into her by a robot in a pioneering operation - raising hopes for women left infertile.

Emma Leach, 39, was left infertile and went through the menopause after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. She had pieces of her ovaries frozen five years ago following her diagnosis and they have now been put back into her body. Professor Kutluk Oktay, a New York-based fertility pioneer, agreed to carry out the operation. Ms Leach, from London, went under the knife in the U.S. after a series of consultations over the internet via Skype. She had been searching for over a year before coming across obstetrics and gynecology expert Dr Oktay who agreed to carry out the procedure.

The former businesswoman was warned that the chances of success are low. Her ovary was cut open by the robot and the tissue which had been removed and frozen before her chemotherapy treatment was stitched inside.

More pieces of tissue which were too small to stitch in were then injected into the other ovary by the pioneering equipment. She was discharged from hospital within hours of the procedure. Professor Kutluk Oktay, who performed the procedure for the first time, told the Sunday Times: 'The robotic arms mimics the movement of the hand but there is much more precision.

'There is no hand tremor - this allows the surgeon to do fine suturing at microscopic levels without having to put patients through invasive surgery.'

The robot - named Da Vinci - has previously been used for carrying out heart operations and treating cancer. There was some hormonal function after the operation - although it was short-lived. It was thought the problems occurred because only a small amount of tissue had been frozen. The news will give new hope to thousands of women around the world who are left infertile after going through chemotherapy. Professor Oktay, who will present his medical account of the first robotic ovarian transplant at a meeting of the Transatlantic Reproductive Technologies Network (TARTEN) next month, said: 'It is a partial success.'

The British team froze only a small amount of tissue because they intended it to be used for a different procedure from ovary transplant. This procedure did not take off, however, and so the restricted amount of ovarian tissue was used in the transplant.

Leach wishes that, five years ago, she had frozen a whole ovary rather than small fragments, given that these organs were destroyed by the chemotherapy. This would have given her a greater chance of her ovaries working again.

She has set up a website at www.lifeonice.com to campaign for young women to routinely have their ovaries frozen ahead of chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Article: 28th march 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk

Read more about egg donation and IVF at www.prideangel.com

Gay couples in France are resorting to drastic measures to have children, according to campaigners.

Couples were resorting to costly and legally precarious methods, said Philippe Rollandin, spokesman for APGL, the largest association representing homosexual parents in France.

Campaigners are also unhappy that the children of homosexual couples have less protection than the offspring of heterosexual pairs if one parent dies or the couple separates.

"Homosexual couples are becoming more dismayed and angry about this clear discrimination in France, particularly as we are seeing the situation changing so clearly in Europe," he said.

Unlike in the UK, where gay parents have equal rights over their child, in France only one – the biological or adoptive parent – has automatic parental rights, said Caroline Mecary, a specialist gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights lawyer.

This means the non-biological parent cannot make emergency health decisions, travel alone with the children or pass on their inheritance. Crucially, if the officially recognised parent dies, the child is, in legal terms, an orphan in the eyes of the state.

"One half of the couple has no legitimacy in the eyes of the law, which is bad for the parents but even worse for the children," she said. "They are left in a legal no-man's land."

Rollandin said a ban on gay couples adopting had resulted in a generation of "Thalys babies", named after the high-speed train line between France and Belgium, where women can legally obtain artificial insemination. The APGL estimates that about 70% of lesbian couples with children used artificial insemination, which can cost between €1,000 (£880) to €3,000 (£2,600) in Belgium and up to €€6,000 in Spain.

Male couples were increasingly resorting to paying surrogate mothers to have children, said Rollandin. About half use this method, costing up to €120,000. Lesbian and gay couples are also using matchmaking websites to meet other couples or donors in order to have children.

French adoption laws which stipulate that only heterosexual couples or single people can adopt had led some couples to feign singledom, he said. "Gay couples are forced to hide and act hypocritically. Morally, and legally, it is right on the edge."

According to the INED demographic studies institute, about 30,000 children are being raised by gay parents in France, but the APGL puts the number at more than 250,000.

Anne, who did not wish to give her surname, adopted two children from Russia with her former partner. They have since separated and share child-rearing, but their recent demand to share parental responsibility was rejected and led to two girls aged two and 11 being interviewed by police. "I find that abhorrent – all I want is security for my children," she said.

The fight for equal parenting rights suffered a blow earlier this year when the French constitutional court ruled laws banning gay marriage did not violate the constitution.

Mecary said only a change in government would provide any prospect of improved gay rights. "I think we will only see a change if the Left come into power in 2012. For the moment, there is nothing in the legislative plan that suggests things could move forward," she said.

One mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "We don't feel like making waves or fighting; we want society to recognise that we have a different type of family. We are just trying to fit in."

Article: 25th March 2011 www.guardian.co.uk

Read more about gay and lesbian parenting at www.prideangel.com

> Sperm have been successfully grown in the laboratory for the first time and it is hoped the technology could eventually help infertile men have children.

In the experiment on mice, the sperm were used to produce healthy, fertile offspring. The researchers, writing in Nature, say their method will serve as a platform for future clinical applications. A UK expert urged caution as many more studies were still required.

The research team have described sperm production as one of the longest and most complex processes in the body. It takes more than a month from start to finish in most mammals and scientists have struggled to produce healthy sperm in the laboratory.

Rather than working with individual cells, the team in Japan used fragments of testes. It is like starting with a whole segment of an orange rather than just the juice.

University of Sheffield The fragments were then bathed in nutrients and sperm production was maintained for more than two months.

Some treatments for cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, can result in fewer sperm being produced and reduce the ability of sperm to fertilise an egg.

Patients can freeze sperm before undergoing treatment, however, this has limitations. It is only possible to store so much, sometimes it fails and young boys have no sperm to freeze.

It is hoped the research at Yokohama City University will be able to help. The study shows that mouse testes can be frozen until needed and still produce sperm.

A review article in Nature, by Marco Seandel and Shahin Rafii who are both from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said the "approach represents a crucial experimental advance along the thorny path to the clinical use of sperm" developed in the laboratory.

Dr Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, believes that being able to grow human sperm in this way will lead to better understanding of infertility and would be a better subject for testing drugs.

On clinical developments, he added: "It is important to be cautious because sometimes species-specific differences in biology means that what works for one species does not work in another.

"Also, it is clearly important to make sure that any sperm produced are safe and give rise to healthy offspring when used, and that they in turn have healthy offspring. We need to be cautious with this kind of work."

Article: 24th March 2011 www.bbc.co.uk

Read more about testing your sperm count using a Male sperm count test

An article in Yahoo today describes a woman who tracked down her long-lost father in the US who is now pregnant with his child. This highlights the concern of genetic attraction between parent and child who have never previously met, because of adoption or sperm and egg donation.

Garry Ryan, 46, was tracked down by his daughter Penny Lawrence, 28, last year. He had left Ms Lawrence's mother when she was pregnant, so father and daughter had never met.

Following the death of her mother and the grandparents who raised her, Ms Lawrence, from Los Angeles, became obsessed with finding her father, and tracked him down to Houston, Texas.

Upon meeting, they felt an instant physical attraction, which resulted in a sexual relationship. Ms Lawrence is now pregnant with her father's child.

The couple claim that their attraction is the result of something called Genetic Sexual Attraction, a term coined in the 1980s to describe overwhelming feelings between blood relatives who first meet as adults.

Speaking with The Irish Sun newspaper, Ms Lancaster said: "We are not committing incest, but are victims of GSA. We’ve never experienced a father-daughter relationship, so we’re just like any other strangers who meet in adulthood." The couple said that if the three month scan of their baby shows it does not have birth defects, they plan to keep the child and raise it together.

The couple are aware that their relationship is illegal, and are afraid the law will be used to separate them. In the US, a sexual relationship between close blood relatives is illegal, although the specifics of incest laws vary between states. A close blood relative usually includes father, mother, brother and sister, aunt, uncle, niece and nephew but may also extend to first cousins, step parents and step brothers and sisters.

Several theories surround the phenomenon of GSA, including the notion that humans are frequently attracted to faces similar to their own. It also embraces the theory that if two people who are genetically related do not meet until adulthood, the normal sexual aversion that develops between siblings during childhood is somehow switched off.

Indeed, GSA can affect parents separated from their own children at birth, as well as siblings. It does not refer to a genetic sexual attraction, but to the fact that people are genetically connected. There have been cases of mothers and sons, and long lost brothers becoming intimate under the compulsion of GSA. The situation is reported to be quite common in reunions between adoptees.

The term GSA was coined in the 1980s by Barbara Gonyo after reuniting with the son she had given up for adoption. Upon reuniting with him 26 years later, she was horrified to discover that she had feelings for him akin to those of a lover, rather than a mother. She investigated her own feelings about her son and wrote a book in which she coined the phrase Genetic Sexual Attraction.

Since the change in the anonymity law in 2005, which now means that donor-conceived can now receive details about their donor at age 18 and make contact with each other. This begs the question whether in 2023 we will see an increase in cases of genetic attraction, which may lead to relationships between genetic parent and child. This carries the concerning risk of any baby developing genetic defects which may not be noticeable in early scans.

This is one of the reasons that Pride Angel believes that it is beneficial to intended parents, donors and children to know of their donor from an early age, which prevents cases of genetic attraction.

For more information about known sperm donors and co-parents visit www.prideangel.com

“Mothers who drink in early pregnancy are ‘more likely to have unruly children’,” reported the Daily Mail. The newspaper says that a study has found a three-fold risk of antisocial behaviour among 16 year olds whose mothers drank as little as one alcoholic drink per day during early pregnancy.

The US study assessed the possible association between drinking during the first trimester of pregnancy and the risk of a psychiatric condition known as ‘conduct disorder’ in adolescents up to 16 years of age. The disorder can lead to a persistent, marked pattern of repetitive antisocial behaviour that is beyond simply being unruly.

Although the study found an association between conduct disorder and maternal pregnancy, it should be remembered that it is a relatively uncommon condition, and that only 67 adolescents (about 12% of the study population) had experienced it. Therefore further research is needed to reliably assess the influence of prenatal alcohol exposure on the risk of developing the condition.

Current advice is that women trying to conceive and pregnant women, particularly those in the first three months of pregnancy, should refrain from consuming alcohol altogether.

Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from The University of Pittsburgh. It was funded by grants from the US National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism and the US National Institute of Drug Abuse.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Academy Child Adolescent Psychiatry.

This research was covered by the Daily Mail, which reported that alcohol consumption during pregnancy was associated with “unruly behaviour”. It should be emphasised that Conduct Disorder is a specific psychiatric condition diagnosed by a persistent, marked pattern of repetitive antisocial behaviour. It is not clear from this study how alcohol consumption during pregnancy affects minor or short-term symptoms of unruly behaviour.

What kind of research was this?
This was a prospective cohort study, which investigated whether a mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of their child having conduct disorder.

What did the research involve?
The researchers used data from two longitudinal studies which had looked at the effects of substance exposure during pregnancy. One had focused on alcohol consumption and one had focused on marijuana use. But as their study designs were identical, the researchers combined the data. In total, these studies provided data on 829 women who had been recruited from antenatal clinics. The study began in 1982.

The researchers recorded data on the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption over the three pregnancy trimesters. The researchers had also collected data on drug and tobacco use.

From the original cohort the researchers were able to gather data on 763 live singleton births (some of the mothers moved from the area or did not participate in follow-up). The children were followed from birth for 22 years. At the age of 16 years, 572 of them completed a psychiatric interview to assess psychiatric disorders, both current and during their lifetime. The mothers and adolescents were interviewed separately about their own symptoms. The researchers focused on whether the adolescents had conduct disorder, a psychiatric condition that may cause people to be repeatedly aggressive or destructive and to behave outside of social norms.

Additionally, the children and mothers were assessed at birth, and at the ages of 8 months, 18 months, and 3, 6, 10 and 14 years. During these visits various aspects of the children’s home life was assessed, such as whether their biological father or another male adult was involved in their life; how strict they thought their parenting was, whether they regularly ate meals with their family, participated in family activities and performed chores. They were also asked about their participation in sports, their interests and their hobbies.

The researchers also recorded whether the children had experienced a number of specific positive and negative life events, as well as data on the families’ socioeconomic status, the mother’s marital status, the child’s IQ and education.

The researchers restricted their analysis to the reported volume of alcohol drunk during the first three and last three months of pregnancy.

How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers said that “prenatal alcohol exposure above the level of one drink per day predicts a three-fold increase in the rate of conduct disorder in exposed offspring at 16 years of age”. They say that prenatal alcohol exposure should be considered as another risk factor for conduct disorder.

Conclusion
While this study has demonstrated an increased risk of conduct disorder with drinking one or more alcoholic drinks per day in the first trimester, there are several limitations to this study that should be taken into account when interpreting these results.

This study benefited from a long follow-up of children whose mothers had consumed alcohol during pregnancy. But owing to the small size of the study, further research is needed to assess how drinking alcohol during pregnancy is associated with conduct disorder. Regardless, it is recommended that women avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy for a number of other health reasons.

Article: 22nd March 2011 www.nhs.uk source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Read more about nutrition and fertility at www.prideangel.com

Three weeks have passed since Carole Hobson brought her IVF twins home from hospital and it’s clear her once ordered life as a mature, single career woman has been completely turned on its head.

A sky-high pile of freshly-washed babygros, bedding and towels sits on the dining table and the ironing board stands permanently in the living room. With the volume of washing, there is obviously little point in putting it away.

She tries to snatch a quick toasted cheese sandwich while son Matthew and daughter Freida sleep upstairs, but manages only a mouthful before the babies start crying in unison.

‘As you can hear, they both have a lusty set of lungs,’ she smiles, padding upstairs to lift Freida gently from her cot while replacing Matthew’s dummy.

Carole is averaging just two or three hours of sleep a night and admits to feeling completely exhausted at times with the relentless routine of feeding, burping, changing, washing and sterilising bottles. After all, she does not have a partner to share the strain.

And at 58, she is embarking on first-time motherhood at an age when most women are looking forward to retirement, grandchildren, holidays and a spot of gentle gardening.

‘I have about two hours a day to myself, to do everything that needs to be done,’ says Carole wearily, as her two dogs Milly and Lucy bark from a room downstairs in the vain hope of walkies. I don’t even have time to read a book any more, let alone eat a proper meal. Some days I feel almost mad with exhaustion.’

Carole’s only been out of the house once so far; to Bluewater shopping centre in Kent this week where a quick trip to the hairdressers was far from a relaxing treat and had to be abruptly curtailed. ‘Matthew chose that moment to do an explosive nappy,’ laughs Carole.

‘I was sitting in the salon chair saying: “You are going to have to hurry up!” It was all rather stressful.

But is she happy? Carole, a 58-year-old former barrister and trained social worker, spent £20,000 and underwent five rounds of IVF treatment — using donor eggs and sperm — to realise her dream of becoming a mother.

When Matthew and Freida were born nine weeks prematurely by emergency Caesarean on Christmas Eve — each weighing 3lb 3oz — Carole became one of Britain’s oldest mothers of twins.

And she is the oldest single woman to embark on such a daunting enterprise, producing mixed-race children to whom she has no biological link at all.

They were conceived in a Mumbai laboratory with donor eggs from a 24-year-old Indian woman and donor sperm from a Scandinavian engineering graduate.

Six resulting embryos were implanted into Carole’s womb. An early scan revealed she was carrying triplets and at 13 weeks Carole opted to selectively reduce the pregnancy because of the risk to her own and the babies’ health.

‘Am I happy?’ repeats Carole, before a slightly uncomfortable silence descends. She’s not quite sure how to answer because in the traumatic weeks since their birth — when she feared the twins might not survive — she’s had plenty of time to reflect on the wisdom of her actions.

Finally, she says: ‘I’m very happy to be caring for my two babies. I feel overwhelmed with love for them and very protective of them, but it would be nice to get a good night’s sleep. But I am sure it will get easier.’

Would she do it all again, knowing what she knows now? Again, Carole picks her words carefully. ‘Like many new mothers, I’ve had my “what have I done?” moments,’ she says.

‘Now that Matthew and Freida are here and I have bonded with them, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I feel very lucky to have them, but I would say to any older woman considering doing the same to think very carefully about it. Given my experience, a single baby rather than a multiple pregnancy would be the best way and I would advise any older woman to have a baby as young as possible.’

Carole, sleep-deprived, pole-axed by the reality of caring for baby twins and anxious for their still fragile health, appears to illustrate perfectly the proverb: ‘Be careful what you wish for . . . you might just get it.’

But it’s early days yet and, to be fair to Carole, she looks far less frazzled than I’d expected, given the demands of twins. She seems to be incredibly well and has a calm, loving commitment to her babies — but it’s hard to detect any sign of euphoria.

I first met Carole last December when she was 29 weeks pregnant with the twins and was eagerly anticipating their safe arrival. Despite the pregnancy causing her all manner of health problems — including dangerously high blood pressure and water retention, which caused her legs to swell painfully — Carole was utterly confident about her ability to cope with twins.

She described to me the extraordinary lengths she went to in order to achieve her goal, batting away any criticism of her quest for late, single motherhood with clear-headed logic and well-rehearsed argument.

She explained how it wasn’t until her late 40s and early 50s that — having lacked all maternal instinct in her 20s or 30s, while she forged her career — she came to bitterly regret her childlessness.

Her then partner of 11 years, a geologist, was not keen on the idea, so Carole decided to go ahead alone, effectively sacrificing their relationship on the altar of motherhood.

In pursuit of doctors who would help her, Carole travelled from Kent to the Ukraine, back to London, to Cyprus and finally to a fertility clinic in India — which treats women up to the age of 63 — where her fifth attempt at IVF proved successful.

‘I felt incomplete without a child,’ she said, explaining that she went to India because of shortage of egg donors elsewhere. ‘I want to seize every opportunity that medical science can offer me, as a woman. Some people might accuse me of being selfish or going against nature, but isn’t it going against nature to perform transplants or heart surgery? I’m no more selfish than any other woman who wants a family.’

Today, Carole has the family she longed for, but she admits it has been ‘a traumatic journey’ and one she would not wish to repeat.

Article: 19th March 2011 Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk

Considering IVF? need a sperm or egg donor? visit www.prideangel.com

The spring equinox in Western culture marks the first day of the change of the seasons. Many people will start to do their spring cleaning around this time, and the Christian holiday of Easter is celebrated some time between March and April. For many cultures, religions, and spiritual paths, however, it marks what could be called the Goddess of Fertility Day.

Ostara, as the day is often called, was named after the Norse Goddess of Fertility. The celebration of fertility, life, and rebirth is most often celebrated during the vernal equinox, sometime between March 19 and March 22. It is a festival often celebrated with a plentiful feast, cleaning, decorating, and exploration.

Eggs and rabbits are most often associated with the day, as a sign of fruitful production and fertility. Decorating them with warm colors is a means to celebrate the renewal of the harvest and welcome in the change in the weather.

Many cultures and religions celebrate a similar holiday each spring. This is believed to have been a way for the different religions to gain new followers and converts.

List of Fertility Goddesses:
Ala (Nigerian) Mother Goddess responsible for fertility of both animals and man.
Ajysyt (Siberian) Mother Goddess. Her name means "birth giver". She visited every mother and provided a soul for the newborns.
Aka (Turkish) Ancient Mother Goddess.
Alemonia (Roman) Goddess responsible for feeding of the feotus in the womb. Also known as Alemona.
Aphrodite (Greek) Represented fertility.
Arianrhod (Welsh) Associated with fertility.
Aveta: (Gaulish) Goddess of fertility, childbirth and midwives, also linked to fresh water.

Bast (Egyptian) Bast the cat headed Goddess was associated with both fertility and childbirth.
Bendis (Greek) One of several Greek fertility Goddesses.
Bona Dea (Roman) Goddess of fertility, healing, virginity, and women
Brigit (Irish) was the Goddess of home, hearth, feminine aspects, healing, and fertility.
Ceres (Roman) Goddess of crops and agriculture.
Corn Mother (Native American) Responsible for the fertility of the land and people.
Cybele (Roman) Cybele was the goddess of fertility based on Anatolian Goddess Kybele.

Demeter (Greek) The Goddess of grain and bringer of fertility to the earth.

Frigg (Nordic) Frigg was the Odin wife she protected a man's marriage and made him fertile. Her name was invoked to bring children into a conjugal union.
Freya (Nordic) Often confused with Frigg, Freyja was the Norse goddess of sexual activity.

Gaia (Greek) Ancient Greek mother goddess who gave birth to the land and the Titans.
Gefjon(Teutonic) She was one of Frigg's handmaidens and associated with fertility of both man and the land.

Haumea (Hawaiian) Haumea was perpetually reborn, allowing her to continually mate with her offspring.

Juno (Roman) Often called upon by infertile women.

Macha (Irish) Fertility goddess who primarily concerned with male virility.
Mastor-Ava (Russian) Earth Goddess.

Nile Goddess - One of the prehistoric fertility Goddesses worshipped in the Nile Delta. She had the head of a bird.

Rainbow Snake (Aborigine) She represented the fertile rains, and sea she flows through her people's lives bringing children. Rhea (Greek) Replaced her mother Gaia as the earth and fertility goddess. She gave birth to the first Olympians

Tlalteutli (Aztec) Goddess of Creation. The Universe was made of Her body.

Urd (Teutonic) Norse Earth Goddess.

Venus (Roman) Roman equivalent to Aphrodite. She represented one of the main fertility Goddesses.

Read more information about fertility and getting pregnant at www.prideangel.com

Jessica McCallin has already chosen a name for her unborn daughter. She will be called Freya, after the Norse goddess of fertility. ‘Freya is one of my favourite girls’ names,’ she says. ‘I didn’t know the meaning but, when I found out, I knew straight away that would be her name. It’s perfect.’

It’s somewhat fitting, too. Because Freya’s father is a 6ft Dane in his 20s, with greeny-blue eyes and blond hair. But beyond those few physical characteristics, neither Jessica nor Freya will know any more.

This is because last June, Jessica, 36, flew to Copenhagen and was artificially inseminated with the sperm of an anonymous Danish donor — and more and more British women are doing exactly the same thing.

Last year, about 500 to 1,000 British women were treated in Denmark, resulting in between 100 to 200 pregnancies. ‘It was an incredibly easy process,’ recalls Jessica, who is single. ‘After a few months of monitoring my cycle, I booked a flight to coincide with the time I ovulated.

‘I’d found out about the Danish sperm bank through a friend. It occupied a few rooms in a tasteful period building in the centre of Copenhagen.

‘The nurse put me at ease. I didn’t feel a thing as she carried out the procedure, and it was over within minutes. Then, half an hour later, I was back strolling round the streets of Copenhagen. I felt very comfortable about what I had just done.’ So why did Jessica go to Denmark rather than use a British sperm donor?

The head of the world’s biggest sperm bank, one of 15 private clinics in Denmark, says the number of women travelling to the country for treatment has soared.

Cryos International, based in Aarhus, was set up in 1987, has 427 donors on its books and supplies sperm to 65 countries. Half of all women who have treatment in Denmark have come from abroad.

‘We have a lot more donors than in the UK where there is a real shortage, thanks to the laws being changed on anonymity,’ says Ole Schou, its managing director and founder. ‘Treatment is also up to ten times cheaper in Denmark, even with the travel costs thanks to low-cost airlines.’

Also, in the UK, rules state that a single donor can produce a maximum of ten pregnancies and subsequent children for those families, while in Denmark a donor can be used for 25 pregnancies.

Mr Schou believes the compensation scheme in the UK is also complicated and puts off donors. Presently, centres may only pay donors their ‘reasonable expenses’.

And in April 2005, anonymity for donors in the UK was removed, meaning donor-conceived children can now find out the identity of their father when they turn 18.

‘Before that, there were about 2,000 donors in the UK but that number has fallen dramatically,’ says Mr Schou. Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services, a private clinic in Aldridge, near Walsall, says: Donors have gone down and demand has gone up. The same number of donors are registering, but a significant proportion are now creating a single pregnancy for someone they know.’

There has also been a rise in same-sex couples having children. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority insists that the number of donors has barely altered since 2005, but there seems to be an acknowledgment that the shortage of sperm and egg donors has reached crisis point. In January, it launched a three-month public consultation to explore how to improve the situation.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, says: ‘In some areas of the country, the wait for a sperm donor can be as long as two years, and there is no choice of donors to pick from; you have to take what you’re offered.’

Professor Lorraine Culley, of De Montfort University in Leicester, studied 41 cases of women going abroad in a report about to be published by the Economic and Social Research Council.

‘The main drive for them was the shortage of donors in the UK combined with the cost of treatment here,’ she says. ‘Funding cuts in primary care trusts are also having an impact, with some suspending IVF treatment.’ Denmark — population just 5.5 million in contrast to Britain’s 60 million — is widely accepted to be the ‘sperm capital’ of Europe.

‘I had heard stories here of long waiting lists with single women being a low priority,’ she explains. ‘In Denmark it is straightforward. There is no queue, it doesn’t matter if you’re a single woman and you can go on to have another child by the same donor. ‘You are also able to choose the characteristics of the donor. ‘I wanted my child to look as much like me as possible. Lots of my family are tall, broad and fair, and we come from the North of England and Celtic regions conquered by Norsemen, so we probably have Scandinavian blood. The Viking aspect appealed to me.’

The idea of having a Scandinavian bloodline is appealing to an increasing number of British women who, faced with a shortage of donors in the UK and a wait of up to two years in some areas of the country, are choosing to go to Denmark for artificial insemination. One clinic’s catchphrase is: ‘Congratulations, it’s a Viking!’

Jessica paid £460 for the treatment at Stork Klinik, set up by midwife Nina Stork in 1991 specifically for single women and lesbians. She also spent £200 on flights, accommodation and meals during her time in Copenhagen. She had to be cleared for sexually transmitted diseases before the clinic would agree to treat her, and underwent an hour-long phone interview with a nurse to discuss her motivation for having a child.

A 60-minute chat, not even conducted in person, might seem paltry considering the magnitude of the exchange. But, lest we forget, the Stork Klinik is a business: it’s not in its interest to put people off with probing questions. The more sperm the clinic sells, the more money it makes.

Jessica, a journalist, who lives alone in a one-bedroom flat in Denmark Hill, South London, fell pregnant on that first attempt, and her daughter is due this month. Years of research, discussions with family and friends and soul-searching have brought her to this point. And Jessica, who has a brother and three sisters, feels confident she has made the right choice for her.

‘I don’t have a single regret. I have loved being pregnant and I am looking forward to meeting my daughter. ‘In my early to mid-20s, I knew I wanted children. By my late 20s, I was in a relationship and I thought I would get married and have them the usual way. But the relationship didn’t work out. It would have been nice to have met someone to share my life with, but it hasn’t happened.

‘Some of my friends have rushed into having children with a man they weren’t sure about, and things haven’t worked out. I wouldn’t want to do that. ‘I always saw 40 as my fertility cut-off point. But when I turned 35, I read a raft of articles about a woman’s fertility dropping sharply from 35. ‘There was no major desperation that gripped me. It was a growing feeling that I knew I wanted a child. ‘One of my younger sisters has been trying for a child for two years and I felt I needed to start trying earlier rather than later, in case I had fertility problems.

‘Some time back, a gay friend offered to be a donor, but I decided against it because I thought it may cause complications. So, after years of thinking about it, the idea of going to Denmark just felt right.’ In Denmark, the rules on sperm donation are more flexible than the UK. Donors can choose to be identifiable or anonymous, with 80 per cent choosing to remain secret.

Jessica decided to pick an anonymous donor. ‘The anonymity issue was the one thing that concerned me,’ she says. ‘I read a lot of psychological research papers for donor-conceived people. The constant theme which caused distress was being lied to, or having their feelings denied.

‘Most research says the best approach is to be honest from when your child asks about who their dad is. I don’t know what I’ll say, but I’ll find a form of words.

‘And I’m planning to set up an official group so Freya gets to meet as many children like her as possible. The clinic also holds an annual party for children born through them, which I plan to take her along to as she grows up. These days, the definition of family is so very different from previous generations. One in two marriages end in divorce, and there are more gay families and families with stepchildren.

‘If I meet someone and I fall in love then so be it, but I am not concerned about being a single parent,’ says Jessica. Her parents, John and Margaret, a former child psychologist, are supportive. The retired couple, both 64, are even buying a house near Jessica so they can be hands-on grandparents. ‘My parents have two grandchildren so far and they are desperate for more,’ she says. And would she like to have another child? ‘I have been thinking about it more and more. I’ll see how things go. But if I did, I would use the same sperm donor again as it makes sense for Freya to have a sibling exactly like her.’

Article: 14th March 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk

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Two thirds of women would consider moving house to access IVF on the NHS, according to research.

Many have suffered fertility problems or know someone who has, while others have experienced depression and financial issues as a result of infertility, it found. While Scottish care trusts fund three fertility cycles, English PCTs decide on case-by-case bases about supporting treatments, leaving many patients struggling to access the IVF they need to conceive.

Clare Lewis-Jones, from the Infertility Network support network, said that for many couples ‘NHS is simply not an option purely because of their postcode.

‘This is a totally cruel, unjustifiable and unacceptable situation which simply must end, and end quickly before it is too late for those affected and they face a life without children which for many is too awful to contemplate,’ she added. A survey by She magazine of 1,000 readers found some 80 per cent knew of at least one couple who had had problems conceiving, while one in four had visited their GP to discuss fertility concerns.

A fifth had experienced financial difficulties through needing treatment, or knew someone who had, while more than one in three had suffered depression as a result of problems conceiving.

A similar number said infertility had caused a strain on their relationship with their partner, or they had witnessed friends experiencing issues while trying to conceive.

In 2004, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should fund three free cycles of IVF for women aged 23 to 39. A Department of Health survey from 2009 showed 30 per cent of health trusts offered three cycles, 23 per cent two cycles and 47 per cent one cycle.

Battle for treatment: Many couples struggle to gain access to IVF on the basis of which PCT caters for their area However, since then there have been widespread reports of trusts slashing funding for IVF, with more cuts expected this year.

A survey by Pulse magazine last year found one in five of all primary care trusts (PCTs) had cut funding for IVF in the previous three years and eight PCTs had not funded any IVF treatment for two years.

She magazine has launched a 'Fairtility' campaign and is encouraging women to sign an online petition.

Editor Claire Irvin said: 'Whenever we run a story in She magazine about infertility or IVF, we are overwhelmed by the candid and emotional letters and emails we receive from desperate couples who are reluctant to speak out about their treatment as infertility is such a private subject.

'It is something that affects tens of thousands of women across the UK - including members of our own team and should be given the priority it deserves.'

In January, David Flory, deputy NHS chief executive, wrote to PCTs reminding them they should have regard to the Nice guidelines. Nice is currently reviewing them but will not publish its findings until 2012.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: 'The local NHS decides on the funding of fertility treatments such as IVF. 'They make these decisions based on the health priorities of their local population. 'Current Nice guidelines recommend that the NHS provides up to three cycles of IVF for eligible couples. 'Our recent letter to the NHS reinforces how important it is for PCTs to take account of these guidelines.'

Article: 14th March 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk

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