NHS could pay surrogates £15,000 to have babies for gays

Surrogate mothers could be given up to £15,000 of Health Service money to have children for gay couples, it emerged yesterday.

An NHS trust is considering funding the service for infertile couples - whether they are heterosexual or of the same-sex.

If the proposals are approved, the Health Service will pay for IVF cycles and the expenses surrogate mothers are allowed.

Bosses at North East Essex Primary Care Trust have already discussed the issue at board level.

A report presented to directors said: "It appears that the majority of applications for surrogacy to be funded on the NHS stem from heterosexual couples, but consideration would need to be taken for any homosexual couple or single person who wished to become a parent through surrogacy.

"There are more extreme scenarios to consider, such as the husband or parents of a dead woman applying for surrogacy to provide a baby using the dead woman's embryo."

The trust is waiting on a further report before making a decision next month.

Critics warned arranging payments sets a dangerous precedent.

A spokesman for Surrogacy UK said: "This would be a first. We are not allowed to do it because it takes you over the line of negotiating things and getting too involved.

"They're mad if they try it because it's so difficult arranging everything."

Surrogate mothers are not allowed to be paid but are typically given expenses of between £7,000 and £15,000 for carrying a baby to full term.

With the cost of IVF cycles on top - which are not always successful and cost around £3,000 each - the total outlay could rise to almost £30,000.

Other costs might include drawing up contracts between the commissioning couple and the surrogate.

Surrogates would also be able to claim damages if things went wrong.

A spokesman for Infertility Network UK said only a limited number of health trusts might back the idea, creating a post code lottery.

According to the North East Essex report, other trusts including Cambridge, Doncaster, Nottingham and Gloucestershire say that "surrogacy will not be considered for funding as part of their assisted reproduction policy".

Around 50 surrogate pregnancies take place each year even though it is illegal to advertise for the services of a surrogate.

Many couples or individuals find volunteers among friends and family and make private financial arrangements.

Agencies that supply surrogates are not allowed to arrange expenses.

They are also banned from charging parents.

This could change under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently going through Parliament, although payments would be on a not-for-profit basis.

Acceptable expenses for volunteers include maternity clothing, healthy food, legal fees, domestic help, insurance, medical expenses and overnight accommodation.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which rules on the value of medical treatments, said funding surrogacy was up to individual trusts.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "It is down to the individual trust. We do not endorse or seek to suppress it."

Yesterday, the Mail reported how scientists at Newcastle University have applied for permission to turn female bone marrow into sperm, which could remove the need for men to create life.

The technology, already pioneered in mice, would allow lesbian couples to have children that were biologically their own.

Gay men could follow suit by using the technique to make eggs from their bone marrow.