NHS must find a way to fund this treatment

The issue with fertility treatment is "who pays?"

There's a lottery because each part of the country has autonomy and is able to ration treatment. And there's rationing because fertility treatment is underfunded.

IVF is not seen to be life-saving but as a lifestyle choice or a non-essential treatment.

The health service is never going to fund unlimited fertility treatment unless there is more money available.

The way around this is to have a sliding scale where the NHS funds the first cycle of treatment.

The funding would reduce the more cycles you had. There is evidence that it doesn't cost much more to fund three cycles of treatment than it does to fund one.

If society is going to criticise pregnancies among teenagers, which is when women are at their most fertile, it has a duty to stand by women later in life who have delayed motherhood to pursue their careers. A comprehensive national health service should fund fertility treatment.

Gynaecologist Laurence Shaw is a spokesman for the British Fertility Society and director of The Bridge Centre fertility clinic.