Fertility preservation


Content warning: Anatomical terms are used on this page.

This page is about fertility preservation (also called ‘cryopreservation’ or ‘gamete storage’), which means one of three things:

  • sperm freezing: taking a semen sample and freezing it for later use
  • egg freezing: collecting eggs from the ovaries and freezing them for later use
  • embryo freezing: taking eggs and sperm, mixing them outside of someone’s body, allowing embryos to form, and then freezing them for later use

The stored material can be later used in fertility treatment – unfreezing the material and using it to make someone pregnant.

Trans people might be particularly interested in fertility preservation and fertility treatment because some hormone treatments have a risk of making you infertile, and some surgeries that trans people want to have will definitely make you infertile. Fertility preservation doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to have children that are genetically related to you, but it can make it more likely.

The information on this page is about fertility preservation options for adults. There are additional options available for young people and children – but this is a very specialist area and isn’t covered on this page.

Yes. If you’re considering treatments that have a risk of making you infertile, some alternatives that you could think more about are:

  • using donor sperm or eggs
  • surrogacy – this is asking someone else to carry a child and give birth for you
  • adoption or fostering
  • finding a partner who already has existing children
  • waiting to start hormones/surgery until you’ve had children
  • stopping hormones while you have children

However, fertility preservation can be useful when you specifically want to ensure that your children are genetically related to you.

You can find more information to help you think about different pathways you could take to parenthood on the TransPAC Parents and Carers website.

Many trans people choose to have fertility preservation and many trans people choose not to, for a variety of reasons. You don’t need to do fertility preservation to go through gender transition, but if you’re accessing medical transition, you should expect to be asked questions by your gender clinician about fertility preservation.

If you’re thinking through whether to have fertility preservation, you might want to think about some of these questions:

  • How much will it cost? The amount of money that fertility preservation will cost you can vary significantly depending on whether you’re able to access NHS funding in your area, choice of private provider, and your personal situation. If you choose to use your stored material, there could be large costs for doing this – and exactly how much this will cost you may be difficult to know in advance. Read the How Do I Get Fertility Preservation? section and the How Can I Use My Frozen Material? section for more information about costs and funding options.

  • How much it might delay you accessing hormones or surgery? It’s difficult to know in advance exactly how long fertility preservation is going to take, as you may be on wait lists, and more than one freezing cycle may be required.

  • If you’re already on hormones, how do you feel about stopping them?

  • Is it important to you to have children who are genetically related to you? 

  • Is it important to you to become pregnant yourself?

  • How much medical risk are you comfortable with? There are risks involved in egg or embryo freezing (e.g. OHSS) and particularly with fertility treatments to use the stored material.

  • Do you feel it’s necessary for you? It’s not certain that hormone therapy will make you infertile. Fertility preservation can reduce the level of risk.

  • Why do you want fertility treatment? Are you interested in it because you want children who are genetically related to you, or because your family members or a partner want this?

  • How do you feel about the alternative options? Would you be eligible to access other options like adoption or fostering?

  • How might you feel if you went through the process and discovered you were not able to have children? There are no guarantees that you’ll be able to successfully use stored material to conceive children.

It can be really helpful to have someone to talk to about these decisions. If you’d like to talk to someone about your options, speaking to a specialist fertility counsellor is a good way to do it – you can normally access this counselling when you are seen at an NHS fertility clinic. You could also try joining an LGBTQ+ fertility support group to ask questions and find out about other people’s experiences – there are some LGBTQ+ groups run by Fertility Network UK.  

If you’ve started hormones, but not had surgery where your gonads (testes or ovaries) are removed, fertility preservation may still be possible for you.

  • Freezing eggs after starting hormones may require lowering or stopping your testosterone treatment. This might need to be for several months. Most people are able to successfully freeze eggs after starting hormones, but this is not guaranteed.

  • Freezing sperm after starting hormones will normally require stopping oestrogen and antiandrogens for several months. Many people are able to freeze viable sperm after coming off of hormones, but this is not guaranteed.

  • Fertility treatments to get pregnant will require you to stop testosterone completely, and to continue being off testosterone while you are pregnant. This is because testosterone can be very damaging to the developing baby.  You must ensure you are using reliable contraception while you are taking testosterone as you could get pregnant even if your periods have stopped.

If you’ve already had genital surgery, and your gonads (testes or ovaries) have been removed, fertility preservation is no longer possible for you.

Your main options for getting fertility preservation are:

  1. To use an NHS-funded fertility service
  2. To use a private fertility service (one you pay for yourself)
  3. To use a private fertility service paid for by private medical insurance

NHS funded fertility preservation

You can ask for a referral for fertility preservation with an NHS fertility service if:

  • you’re about to start hormones very soon with an NHS gender service – your NHS gender service will normally make this referral for you if you ask them, but the decision about whether this will be funded is made by your local NHS organisation

  • you’re about to start hormones very soon outside of an NHS gender service – in some areas, your GP may be able to make a referral to your local fertility service, or they can ask your local NHS gender clinic to make this referral for you

  • you’re planning to have surgery that would remove your gonads (testes or ovaries) – for example, a total hysterectomy, vaginoplasty, or bilateral orchiectomy

  • you’ve already started hormone therapy

If you ask for a referral for fertility preservation, you may be asked as part of the referral:

  • to give your weight and height
  • to have tests for STIs
  • to an up-to-date cervical smear test

NHS funded fertility preservation will have a waiting list, which may be months long. You could ask in your appointments at an NHS gender clinic about the current waiting times, as they may have this information. If you’ve been referred to an NHS fertility clinic, you could also contact them directly to ask how long their waiting times typically are.

You’ll only be able to have fertility preservation on the NHS if you’re eligible for funding. Read the next section Will the NHS fund my fertility preservation? for details of whether you can get funding.

Privately funded fertility preservation

If you’re using a private fertility service, you can directly contact the service yourself whenever you are ready – you don’t need to ask your GP or a gender clinic to refer you, and you don’t need to be about to start hormones. You get to choose which private fertility service you use – you can private services offering fertility preservation using the HFEA’s Fertility Clinic Search tool.

It’s important to think carefully about which private service you use as you’re likely to spend a large amount of money with them, particularly if you end up using your stored material. You can find a list of important questions to consider when choosing a private fertility service in this guidance from Fertility Network UK. In the future, if you wish to use your stored material you may be eligible to do this under the NHS. However, it would depend on your personal circumstances at that time – see the Will the NHS fund my fertility treatments? section for more details.

The amount that fertility clinics charge can vary a huge amount between clinics. Read the section How much does private fertility preservation cost? to find out how much you might need to pay.

Like NHS services, private fertility clinics may have eligibility criteria and may refuse to offer you fertility preservation or fertility treatments if you don’t meet them. You may want to contact a clinic you are considering to ask them questions about their criteria.

If you store material with a private clinic, you may need to pay additional transportation fees if you want to move this to be stored at an NHS fertility clinic, and NHS fertility clinics in some areas will not accept a transfer from a private clinic at all. If you want to move your material to another private clinic, you may have to pay additional fees.

Private medical insurance

Some private medical insurance policies offered by employers cover fertility treatments. If you have a private medical insurance plan through your employer, contact your insurer to check if funding for this is covered by your policy.


Important note: If the NHS funds your fertility preservation, it does not guarantee the NHS will also fund the use of your stored eggs, sperm, or embryos to create a baby. When you want to use the stored material in future, you’ll need to be referred again by your GP, and need to meet additional criteria for funding for the treatment. If you want to learn more about this, read the Will the NHS fund my fertility treatments? section below.


NHS funding is usually available for fertility preservation, though whether you can access it may depend on:

  • the exact policies where you live
  • your age
  • your BMI
  • whether you already have children
  • your immigration status

If you live in England, the rules that apply to you will depend on which area of England you live in. Follow the advice on our Local Healthcare Organisations page to find out which ICB is responsible for healthcare in your area. Many of these organisations will fund fertility preservation if you’re about to begin treatment that will significantly affect your fertility, like hormone therapy for trans people. Search the website of your local healthcare organisation for a ‘Fertility Policy’, ‘Cryopreservation Policy’, or ‘Evidence Based Interventions Policy’ – this will state the rules of who is entitled to funding. Some local health organisations don’t post the policy on their website, so you may need to email the organisation to ask them to send you a copy of their policy. In many areas you will be able to ask your GP to make a referral directly to the fertility service for you without having to be seen by an NHS gender clinic first. If the policy in your local area does not state that you’re eligible for funding, you will need to ask your GP to make an Individual Funding Request for you.

If you live in Scotland, the national policy states that funding is available for people who are about to have medical treatment for gender dysphoria (e.g. hormone therapy) or surgical treatment for gender dysphoria (e.g. surgery). If your hormones or surgery are being arranged on the NHS through an NHS Scotland gender clinic, the NHS gender clinic will be able to make a referral to fertility services for you. If you are about to start hormones outside of the NHS, speak to your GP and ask for a referral to a local fertility clinic – some clinics might accept the referral, though others may say that you are not eligible for funding.

If you live in Wales, the national policy for fertility preservation says that funding is available for people who are about to have medical treatment for gender dysphoria (e.g. hormone therapy) or surgical treatment for gender dysphoria (e.g. surgery). If your hormones or surgery are being arranged on the NHS through the Welsh Gender Service, the WGS will be able to make a referral to fertility services for you. If you are about to start hormones outside of the NHS, you may still be able to access local fertility preservation services under the current Welsh policy, and you can ask your GP to make a referral for you. If your GP is unsure about how to make this referral, they can contact the Welsh Gender Service for further advice.

If you live in Northern Ireland, fertility treatment is normally offered to patients using the NHS gender clinic. If you are about to start hormones outside of the NHS, speak to your GP and ask for a referral to your Regional Fertility Service. If you are advised that no funding is available, ask your GP to make an Individual Funding Request.

The amount that private fertility clinics charge can vary a huge amount between clinics.

As of July 2025, prices being charged are in the ranges of:

  • initial consultations: £200-300
  • sexual health screening tests: £100-200 per person (your partner may need to be tested too)
  • sperm freezing: £200-500 per cycle
  • egg storage: £3000-6000 per cycle
  • embryo storage: £5000-6000 per cycle
  • surgical sperm retrieval: £1750-2500
  • storage fees: £150-400 per year

You may also be charged additional fees you’re not expecting for sedation, medications, counselling, and other costs, and it can be difficult to work out how much a clinic will ask you to pay. Some clinics will offer ‘packages’ that include many of these costs up front, which can make it easier to estimate how much you will need to spend. Some private fertility clinics offer payment plans which let you spread the costs out over time.

As well as the cost of storage, you will also need to pay more money to use the material you’ve stored in fertility treatments. You can find detailed information about the costs of fertility treatments on the HFEA website.

If you’re planning on changing your name or title but haven’t done this yet, be aware that when you’re filling in some of the forms and legal documents as part of the fertility preservation process, you may be asked to write the name or title shown on your current ID documents. If you change your name later on, you may need to provide proof of your change of name in order to access any material you stored before your change of name – for example, a deed poll or statutory declaration.

While some fertility services have made big steps towards being inclusive of trans people, you are more likely to experience issues with cis-normativity during fertility preservation compared to other parts of your medical transition. You may find staff haven’t been specifically trained on working with trans people, or that they don’t have a good understanding of nonbinary genders, and you might need to explain clearly to the staff what they need to do to make you more comfortable as possible.

You may find you encounter lots of unexpected things during fertility preservation that can cause you dysphoria, feel uncomfortable, or to feel very out of place, like:

  • forms that refer to people freezing eggs as a ‘woman’, ‘female’, or ‘mother’, and people freezing sperm as a ‘man’, ‘male’, or ‘father’
  • tests that involve things inserted in your vagina or anus
  • taking medications that cause you to bleed from your vagina
  • sitting in waiting rooms where everyone else is a different  gender to you
  • being a hospital ward where everyone else is the a different gender to you
  • having to come off your hormone treatment
  • being surrounded by cis-heterosexual couples trying for children
  • posters and leaflets which assume that everyone is cisgender

This all adds up to an experience that can be very difficult for many trans people. If you can ask someone to come with you to support you through the process, it can really help. You may want to talk to them in advance about what things you could ask for that could help with managing dysphoria and difficult situations. You could also plan to do something nice with them afterwards to help you recover from a stressful appointment.

You may need to bring your photo ID, deed poll, and marriage certificate (if you have one) to your appointment. Make sure you know beforehand what to bring, and if you’re not sure, contact your fertility service to find out.

You might also be asked to bring your partner with you if you’re in a long term relationship.

If you’re anxious about the appointment, or find it difficult to remember everything you want to say, you might want to make a list of questions to ask in your appointment ahead of time and bring it with you. There’s some suggestions for things you could ask in the What questions can I ask in my first appointment? section.

Your first appointment is normally an initial consultation in which you’ll learn about what to expect from the process, be asked to sign documents, and be asked questions about yourself and your situation. Some of these questions may seem odd or intrusive, but there can be important medical or legal reasons why a question is being asked. If you’re unsure why you’re being asked a question, you can ask the staff to explain to you why the question is important. 

In your appointment, you’ll be asked to give your legal consent to the treatment and make decisions about how your material can be used. This may include some very serious questions about what should happen to your stored material in the event of your death. These are legal documents, and may be difficult for you to read, so ask questions if you need help to understand the implications of your decisions. You can read more about what you might be asked to consent to, and what the implications for the future are, on the HFEA website.

During the appointment, you may also:

  • be offered a referral to a fertility counsellor – at some services, this may be a mandatory appointment

  • be asked to take a test for sexually transmitted diseases – this can include asking you to insert a swab into your rectum and/or vagina, have blood drawn, or to provide a urine sample

  • be asked about your sexual partners, if you have any

  • find your partner is asked to take a test for sexually transmitted diseases

  • have your height or weight measured

  • be given an ultrasound scan, if you are freezing your eggs – read the What should I expect from ultrasound examinations? section to learn more about what this is

  • be asked if you have any specific plans around being a parent in future and how you want to do this. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer to this yet!

You can use this appointment to ask any questions you have about what to expect.

Some questions you could ask about egg freezing are:

  • What options are there for how ultrasounds are performed? Is a transvaginal ultrasound (a scan performed by inserting a device in the vagina) needed, or is a transabdominal scan possible (a scan performed by inserting a device on the tummy)?

  • What sedation or local anesthesia will be offered during the egg collection procedure?

  • What medications will you have to take as part of the process? Will these increase your oestrogen levels? Can they offer anything to minimise this?

  • If you’re taking testosterone, will you need to stop this as part of the process?

Some questions you could ask about sperm freezing are:

  • If you live nearby, can you produce the sperm sample at home?

  • If you are unable to masturbate, can sperm be collected surgically?

  • If you ‘tuck’, do you need to stop doing this?

  • If there’s anything you need to help you relax when you’re producing your sperm sample, can you bring it with you?

  • If there’s anything you normally need to reduce dysphoria while you masturbate, can you bring it with you?

  • Will you need to stop any of your medications (e.g. hormones) as part of the process?

  • If you’re being asked to stop hormones, how long will you need to do it for?

You’ll be asked to attend appointments for sperm freezing at a fertility centre. The number of appointments may be difficult to predict as it depends on the amount and quality of material that is collected.

Before you attend the appointments, you may be asked to:

  • stop hormone therapy for some time – this might be for several months

  • be ‘abstinent’ (avoid having sex or masturbation) for several days before going to appointment – you will be told for how many days

  • to have masturbated or had sex a certain number of days before giving the sample

  • avoid ‘tucking’ for some time before the appointment – if you ‘tuck’ ask your clinician about this

Before you go to the appointment you might want to think about whether anything might make the appointment easier for you – for example:

  • Is there anyone who you’d like to go with you because it would make you more comfortable?

  • Is there anyone you don’t want to go with you because it would make it more stressful or difficult – for example, family members?

  • Is there anything you normally need to reduce dysphoria while you masturbate?

When you arrive at the appointment you may need to wait in the waiting room, which is likely to be full of men.

When it is time for you to produce a sample, you’ll be given a container and shown to a private room with a lock on the door.

You’ll need to masturbate so that you ejaculate directly into the container. You should be left alone for as long as you need to do this. It’s important that you don’t use any lubricant or saliva (spit) and that you don’t use a condom to collect the sperm, as these can damage the sample – if you’re not sure if something is okay to use, check with the clinic staff.

In some clinics, there will be pornography provided in the room.

You’re not expected to fill the container, and the staff will expect that some people aren’t able to ejaculate on their first attempt. 

Once you’re done, there will be somewhere you will have been told to put your sample for it to be collected by the staff.

The fertility clinic staff will now test the sample to see if it contains viable sperm. If more samples are needed, you’ll be able to make further appointments. If they’re still not able to get adequate samples this way, you may be offered the opportunity to bring a sample from home or to have surgical sperm retrieval – your options may vary from clinic to clinic.

The test results may give you an idea about what types of fertility treatments you can use later (and how much these might cost). After testing, the sample is mixed with a chemical that protects the sperm, put into ampoules (‘straws’), and vitrified (frozen).

It’s important to bear in mind that this test may show that you are infertile. You should be prepared for the possibility that this may be told to you at the appointment.

The process of freezing eggs has lots of steps to it:

  1. Stopping testosterone: You may be asked to stop testosterone therapy if you’re already on it. If you’re asked to do this, this will likely be for several months. You may be asked to wait until you’ve menstruated (had a period) before you move on to the next steps.

  2. Training sessions: You may be offered training sessions to learn how to perform the injections on yourself.

  3. Ovarian stimulation: You will be asked to inject yourself with a medication (follicle stimulating hormone), which will cause your ovaries to grow follicles (fluid areas on your ovaries containing eggs). You’ll need to inject yourself several times over several days – you’ll be given instructions on when you’ll need to do this (usually for around 10-14 days) and how to do the injection. This medication is intended to get your ovaries to produce multiple follicles containing mature eggs. You may also be given additional medications to take depending on your situation.
    Many people find the side effects from these medications difficult, as they can include mood swings, bloating, discomfort, and abdominal pain. You may wish to talk to your employer or educational institution about this in advance (if you feel comfortable) to warn them about this in advance.
     
  4. Testing: You’ll normally have tests to see how your body is responding and whether the eggs are maturing properly, which can include blood tests and ultrasounds. Read the What should I expect from ultrasound examinations? section below more information about this.

  5. Triggering: When you’ve got enough eggs, a ‘trigger’ medication is given as a further injection. This causes your ovaries to prepare to release the eggs.

  6. Collection: When the eggs are ready to collect (usually around 36 hours after your trigger injection), you’ll need to go to the hospital for an egg collection procedure. This procedure may be done under local anesthesia or sedation, as the procedure can be quite painful and possibly distressing.
    The eggs are normally removed by being sucked through a special needle that is put through the vagina. In some clinics, there may be the option of a keyhole surgery that does not go through the vagina – if you need this, you may need to specifically ask for it.

Before you go to your hospital appointment for collection, think about whether anything might make things easier for you. You might want to think about:

  • Booking time off work – you’re likely to be recovering emotionally and physically after the appointment, so booking time off work is important. You may be advised to take at least 24 hours time off after the collection procedure, particularly if you’ve had sedation.

  • Taking someone with you – could someone provide emotional support for you during your visit to the hospital?

  • Arranging for someone to look after you afterwards – you may feel weird or need looking after for several hours after the appointment if you’ve had sedation. If you’ve had sedation, you will also not be allowed to drive for 24 hours, so you might also need someone to help you to travel back home. 

  • Communicating your needs – Read our Communicating about my needs page to think about how to explain what might be helpful for you during your appointment. If you use a communication passport, don’t forget to take this with you.

  • Pain relief – You may be in some pain or discomfort after the procedure – do you have over-the-counter pain relief at home you can use?

  • Emotional self-care: Think about what might help you recover after your appointment. Are there nice or relaxing things you could do? Is there anywhere you can go, something you do, or someone you can spend time with, that makes you feel safe?

After your hospital appointment, look out for what your body is doing. If you’re experiencing nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, or reduced urine output, contact your clinic immediately – this could be signs that you’re experiencing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Ultrasound examinations for egg collection are used to look at where your ovaries are located and the state of development of eggs inside them. There will be more than one of these scans needed during the egg collection process.

Ultrasound examinations for egg collection are normally done by transvaginal ultrasound: this is a probe that is put into the vagina. If you experience vaginal dryness, explain this to staff as they may be able to suggest things they can do to make the test less uncomfortable. For example, you can ask for extra lubricant to make it easier.

At some clinics, you may have the option to have transabdominal ultrasound instead. This is a probe that is put on the outside of your body only and not put into your vagina. If you want this you’ll probably need to specifically ask for it, so make sure that you mention this to the clinic staff.

Your frozen eggs, sperm, or embryos will not be stored forever.

The HFEA’s Information for trans and non-binary people seeking fertility treatment page has up-to-date information on the legal rules that apply to how long your frozen material can be kept for. In summary:

  • frozen material can only be legally stored for 55 years
  • you must renew your consent every ten years, and if the clinic can’t get your consent because they can’t contact you, they may be legally required to destroy the frozen material
  • in the event of your death, the frozen material can only be legally stored for 10 years from the date of death

It’s very important that you keep the fertility clinic up-to-date with your contact details so that they can check that you still want them to keep storing your sperm, eggs, or embryos. If the clinic isn’t able to get in contact with you, they may be legally required to destroy the frozen material.

If you’re using privately funded fertility preservation, you’ll pay a fee for each year the eggs, sperm, or embryos are stored. If you don’t pay this fee, your stored material may be destroyed.

If you’re using NHS funded fertility preservation, the amount of storage time that is funded by the NHS will depend on where you’re registered with a GP – see the How do I get fertility preservation? section for more information about finding the policy in your local area. You may need to pay a fee for any additional years of storage beyond those which are funded by the NHS.

If you’ve decided that you don’t want to use your sperm, eggs, or embryos yourself, you can contact the fertility clinic to ask them to destroy them, to donate them to research, or donate them to someone else who needs them.

If you’ve stored eggs and want to use them in fertility treatments, the options available to you are:

  • become pregnant yourself – this requires you to stop testosterone treatment

  • donate your eggs to a partner who is able to become pregnant and give birth

  • use a surrogate – this is someone else who is able to use your eggs to become pregnant and and give birth for you

The fertility treatment required for all of these options is a special type of IVF treatment called ICSI – this is required for all eggs that have been frozen. If you have a partner who can produce viable sperm, you can use this as part of the treatment, but if not, you can use sperm from a donor.

If you’ve stored sperm and want to use them in fertility treatments, the options available to you are:

  • use your stored sperm to make a partner pregnant
  • use a surrogate

The simplest and most commonly used fertility treatment for frozen sperm is IUI, but some people need to use IVF or ICSI instead, depending on the quality of the stored sperm. Your fertility clinic will be able to advise you about which options are needed in your situation.

You can read more about what to expect from IUI, IVF, and ICSI on these pages: 

There is also information available about using a donor from the HFEA.

The NHS will only fund fertility treatments for people who meet their criteria.

These criteria can vary between areas but can often include:

  • being under a particular age
  • being under a BMI limit
  • not being a smoker
  • being in a ‘stable relationship’

The criteria can be a lot stricter than you might expect. Remember that while you might meet the criteria for NHS funded treatment now, this might have changed by the time you want to have fertility treatments.

There is detailed information about the eligibility criteria across regions of the UK and how to find which rules apply to you on the Fertility Network UK website. 

If you’re using a surrogate, there may be specific funding rules or eligibility criteria that apply to your situation. Surrogacy is a complex process, and it is a good idea to obtain legal advice if you want to use this option.

If you would like to start fertility treatment with NHS funding for material you’ve previously preserved on the NHS, contact your GP and ask for a referral.

If you’re unable to access NHS funding for fertility treatments, you can pay for fertility treatments yourself. Costs of fertility treatment can be very significant. You can find detailed information about the costs of fertility treatments on the HFEA website. You will also need to choose a fertility clinic – you can find an index of fertility clinics on the HFEA website, and there is more information about how to make your decision on the Fertility Network UK website.

If you’re not happy with your fertility preservation or fertility treatment you can give feedback or make a complaint. 

The first step is to tell the clinic directly that you are unhappy with the treatment you’ve received. Many issues can be resolved quickly without a formal complaint.

If you’re unhappy with their response, you can read about the rest of the process of making a complaint in the HFEA guide Making a complaint about a fertility clinic. Fertility clinics will normally have a published policy on how complaints will be handled which can tell you what to expect from making a complaint. You might be able to find this policy on their website, but if not, you can contact the clinic and ask for this.

The HFEA has published a guide Problems at your fertility clinic which explains what to do if something has gone wrong and how you could complain. 

If you have paid for fertility treatment privately, the guide Fertility treatment: A guide to your consumer rights gives details on what you are entitled to expect from a clinic – and as a result, what you might want to complain or take legal action about.

You can read more about fertility preservation for trans people on these pages:

Several NHS gender clinics have created specific guides for their patients:

Some local cryopreservation services have also created resources for trans people:

Community voices

  • “It’s important to make the decision yourself. It’s very easy to be overwhelmed by expectations about what you ‘should’ do, but ultimately your decision is your own.”
  • “I wish I had known how difficult and complicated the process would be – particularly around funding. I didn’t know what an ICB was before – I didn’t know whose responsibility it was to educate my GP and this massively delayed the process.”
  • “It would have been nice to know just how many forms I’d need to fill out – they do most of the work for you but there’s still far far more than with any other medical stuff I’ve ever done. Oh and if you have a partner (and you think you’d want them to have access to the frozen gametes or embryos in the event of your death or something) then you should bring them to appointments so they can sign a bunch of forms too.”
  • “You should know that they send letters on a I forget exactly how frequent but definitely no more than yearly basis that you have to respond to to say you still want them to keep stuff frozen. This means it’s VERY IMPORTANT to keep them up to date with changes of address and changes of name.”

You can find more accounts of some people’s experiences of egg and sperm freezing on Reddit:

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Parts of this page are based on information originally posted on genderkit.org.uk with permission.

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