March 29, 2024

And the first prize is… IVF!

A British non-profit is touting a raffle whose prize is IVF treatment at one of London’s five best IVF clinics. To Hatch, a new charity founded by Camille Strachan last year, is selling tickets for £20. The IVF treatment is will be worth £25,000. The competition is open to single, gay and older people as well as couples and will be held on September 18.

A British non-profit is touting a raffle whose
prize is IVF treatment at one of London’s five best IVF clinics. To Hatch, a new charity founded by Camille
Strachan last year, is selling tickets for £20. The IVF treatment is will be
worth £25,000. The competition is open to single, gay and older people as well as couples and will be held on
September 18.

The IVF industry is horrified that fertility
treatment is being treated like steak knives or a trip to the Costa del Sol. “We are strongly of the view that
using IVF as ‘prize’ in a lottery is wrong and entirely inappropriate. It
trivialises what is for many people a central part of their lives,” said the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the UK’s fertility watchdog.

Ms Strachan
disagrees. “Time and time again I hear stories of
people maxing out the credit cards and re-mortgaging their home because they
can’t get access to IVF through the NHS. This is not a wacky stunt; it is about
helping people desperate people who cannot afford to go privately,” she
said. She was on the IVF rollercoaster herself until she conceived a child
naturally. ~ Independent, July 7

Michael Cook
commercialization
HFEA
IVF