What Are Your Thoughts On This?

[cassa333]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-46634595/should-the-nhs-pay-for-transgender-fertility-treatment

My belief is that no. They should not pay for transgender fertility treatment.

[Old_Geezer]

It's a reasonable prevention though, to avoid future illness and save future budget.

[Prudie]

You're just being picky for the sake of it Canary, preventative medicine is of course included otherwise we wouldn't immunise our children via NHS. Those are not nice to haves. Having bigger boobs or babies when born as a man are.

[sp1814]

Should the NHS pay for lung cancer treatment, for smokers and ex-smokers, but deny fertility treatment to transgender people even though in terms of cost to the NHS the latter is tiny, tiny, tiny?

It's like someone earning £3,000 a month, who spends £1,000 on their mortgage, £400 on travel costs, £500 on groceries, £70 on cigarettes, £100 on beer/wine...and 60p per month on chewing gum deciding to give up chewing gum because the money could be better spent.

It makes very little financial sense.

[sp1814]

Prudie

This isn't about transgender people who were born male. It's about transgender people who were born female. In the example in the question - women were having their eggs frozen pre-op.

Those who were born men cannot do that.

I could understand (but not agree with) the argument that there should be no fertility treatment on the NHS, but disagree that we should build inequality into the system. The rules that are there focus on clinical results, and are not based on ethical principles.

[Khandro]

The "NHS" doesn't pay for anything - you pay for this. If you don't want your money spent in this way, write to your MP.

[naomi24]

No. I agree with Prudie. NHS money should not be spent on ‘wants’ or ‘nice to haves’.

[CallMeDawg]

Non !!!!...c'est ridicule...seems to fit the modern day culture of pandering to a minority though

[Old_Geezer]

I don't think fertility treatment should be on the NHS budget. Doesn't seem the sort of thing it was created for, which was disease cures and prevention. Not yearned for wishes.

I can understand for compassionate reasons one might offer a couple having fertility issues a certain amount of help conceiving a first child, but it should be a separate issue, a different budget, if offered at all.

[ladybirder]

With Prudie on this for the same reasons. No.

[Ryzen]

The cost of IVF does not stop at conception...if successful, costs will continue from cradle to grave for many.

[Stargazer]

If he or she wants to produce a baby they should do so with the original gender they were born with and change their appearance to resemble the opposite sex at some later date and they should not be entitled to NHS funding the removal of or addition to their "new" body image.

[Kromovaracun]

If they are going to offer fertility treatments to everyone else, it seems wrong not to offer it to transgender people who are a tiny fraction of the population. Being transgender should not fundamentally affect your rights and entitlements as citizens.

Like others, though, I have mixed feelings about fertility treatments in general being offered on the NHS. If we're going to take the challenge of climate change seriously, we need to make a difficult decision about whether or not we maintain policies that increase the UK's birth rate.

[Theland]

Another case of freaks wanting non freaks to pay for their preferred freakishness.

[Canary42]

Please excuse my earlier Vulcan logic ;-)

[cassa333]

Transgender people who freeze their eggs or sperm are at liberty to arrange for a surrogate done through a proper agency or whatever official body that exists. They should also have to pay for it themselves.

It’s not like they were going for cancer treatment and froze them because of the treatment.

But TBH I don’t think much more than clomid should be the NHS’s fertility treatment.

Three rounds of clomid then either childlessness, adoption or private funding.

[Mamyalynne]

I am always reticent about commenting on fertility treatment, being in the fortunate position of conceiving naturally twice I have no concept of what the longing to be a parent must be like.

If treatment is available, then there should be equality in the allocation of said help.

[ToraToraTora]

there is no shortage of people , end of, next!