Cheap IVF to be offered to gay women in Sweden’s Far North

The Canadian PressOn Wednesday, Finland’s Northern County Councils Regional Federation recommended new rules for treating infertility in women up to the age of 37.

It’s now up to the four counties in northern Sweden to decide whether to follow the recommendation, and the Federation hopes the would-be rules would go into effect by January.

The counties are expected to adopt new rules regarding invitro fertilization and insemination for childless couples who want kids.

This would even out the financial burden there for lesbian couples, who often have to pay more than their heterosexual counterparts for the services.

The four local health authorities are expected to offer three attempts at IVF and three attempts at insemination to couples, regardless of their sexual orientation, according to Swedish Radio news.

The rules these counties are expected to adopt are already widespread throughout the rest of the country, where both lesbian and heterosexual couples are already offered IVF and insemination options.

For the moment, the rules differ depending on where people live, and in Sweden’s North, it has been the case that homosexual couples have to foot the bill for these services, whereas heterosexual couples have the services largely subsidized. The difference can be up to nearly US$ 2,000 per attempt at insemination.

The rationale has been that healthy lesbian couples are not childless because of fertility problems.

The decision in the health authorities covering of Jämtland, Västernorrland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten is seen as a step towards a common practice for the whole country.

The number of tries a couple gets offered varies widely throughout the country, but in more than half the counties, couples are offered three attempts at getting pregnant with IVF and between three and six attempts with insemination. The age limit for the assistance also varies, with 44 being the oldest, in Värmland.

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