The High Court in Northern Ireland has ruled that rules excluding a male same-sex couple from using state-funded IVF were not discriminatory.
A female friend of the couple had agreed to act as their surrogate, but she had already had a voluntary sterilisation procedure, meaning that donor egg IVF would be necessary. Since neither of the men nor the surrogate was medically infertile they did not qualify for state-funded treatment.
The couple sought judicial review of the decision, claiming that he was discriminated against on the grounds of gender and sexual orientation.
The court found that there was no discrimination: voluntary sterilisation precludes people from accessing NHS IVF in Northern Ireland regardless of their gender, sexuality or relationship status. The Judge also said that 'a surrogacy arrangement should not be conflated with medical fertility treatment'.
The Irish Legal News has a full summary of the judgment.
