Was my GP reasonable?

[Dakin1]

This was a couple of years ago...

Went to ask my GPs advice about NHS funding for assisted conception.

I do not have a problem with my fertility but my partner and I are unable to conceive together. We wanted to find out what options (if any) were available to us on the NHS.

The GPs response: Why don't you ask a male friend to get you pregnant?

Is this a normal response from a GP?! I was slightly taken aback.

That was new in 2013 though, so may not have been available when you were looking for it

You're right. It shouldn't be any different. The psychological and ethical consequences for you and the child are comparable.

If I remember right (my cousin and her wife have just had a baby girl) then if the conception is done "officially" then both halves of the couple can be named on the birth cert. If not they can't.

So a dangerous thing to suggest.

(Obviously a couple should investigate that type of thing themselves but as a certain ex leader of the opposition didn't realise that if he was unmarried and wasn't at the resistry office he couldn't be on his baby's birth certificate I think we can safely say that people are not very good at checking this type of thing out.)

Why are you starting a thread about it 2 years down the line on a Sunday evening?
The lesbian couple I know did conceive with friends. Their kids have 2 mums and 2 dads.

If it was worded exactly as you out it it seems a bit wrong but if it was more along the lines of have you considered a known donor, maybe a friend, to donate sperm and inseminating at home then it sounds perfectly reasonable.

Incidentally as long as a same sex couple are married or in a Cp even if they conceive at home both can be on birth certificate as myself and my OH are.

When my wife and I first saw our gp regarding nhs insemination we were asked if we'd consider adopting instead, so it doesn't surprise me!