Buy a ticket, you could win a baby! Fury over lottery with £25,000 IVF prize
By Tom Kelly
7th July 2011
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Camille Strachan: Lottery creator had her own struggle to conceive
Health watchdogs yesterday launched a scathing attack on the world’s first IVF lottery offering would-be parents the chance to win fertility treatment.
Regulators said plans to sell £20 tickets for a prize of £25,000 of treatment at one of the country’s top fertility clinics ‘trivialised’ an extremely serious issue.
The controversial lottery, run by the To Hatch charity, was granted a licence by the Gambling Commission which does not consider ethical questions when assessing applications.
But yesterday the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said it would be contacting the charity and clinics involved to express its concerns over the lottery, due to start later this month.
A spokesman said: ‘The HFEA is strongly of the view that using IVF as a “prize” in a lottery is wrong and entirely inappropriate.
‘To do so runs counter to the ethos that underpins our regulatory system and clinical practice. It trivialises what is for many people a central part of their lives.’
COST OF INFERTILITY
The world’s first test tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born in Manchester in 1978.
More than 12,000 IVF babies are born in the UK each year
Infertility is estimated to affect one in six UK couples at some point
A typical cycle of IVF treatment costs £5,000. Some patients can pay up to £20,000 to start a family
The Government has said all women with appropriate clinical need should have at least one cycle on the NHS but local rules vary.
Last night a campaign group also branded the concept of an IVF lottery as ‘horrifying’.
Single people and gay people will be eligible for the lottery along with couples hoping to conceive.
The money will be used to pay for one cycle of IVF along with complementary therapy, accommodation and travel costs. Where IVF is not suitable, winners could be offered donor eggs, reproductive surgery or surrogate birth.
If a single man or woman won, they could be provided with donor sperm, or a surrogate mother and donor embryo.
The competition’s creator, Camille Strachan, said she was inspired to set up the competition after her own struggle to conceive. The 37-year-old mother of one said: ‘This lottery will at last offer some hope to those who cannot afford to attend private fertility treatment clinics in areas where IVF has been stopped by the NHS.
‘Sadly, health service cuts are likely to get more severe. When you are trying to conceive every month that passes without treatment is a month wasted. I know because I have been through it myself.’
Betting on a baby: Every month the lottery by charity To Hatch will offer couples struggling to conceive the change to become a parent
After a failed round of IVF, Miss Strachan conceived naturally while waiting for private treatment and is now bringing up a young son.
The former interior designer runs To Hatch from her home in Shepherd’s Bush, West London.
Betting on a baby: The Gambling Commission has granted a licence to charity To Hatch, which offers fertility advice to couples who need IVF
On its website the charity pays tribute to Waitrose which it describes as the initial sponsors for the charity.
The lottery is due to launch on July 30 offering tickets online with a chance of winning fertility treatment from a choice of five private clinics. Entrants must be over 18 and young enough for a fertility clinic to allow treatment.
Lottery numbers will be chosen by a computer and the winner randomly selected. There will be a guaranteed winner on each draw. A quarter of the ticket money will be used to pay for the winner’s IVF, with another quarter going towards To Hatch, which provides online support for childless couples and those experiencing trouble conceiving.
The rest of the takings will go towards VAT and administrative costs, Miss Strachan said. Winners must produce a letter from their GP to show they have been having fertility treatment.
Josephine Quintavalle, of the group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: ‘The more one looks at it, the more one is horrified.
‘If you look at the claims that are being made, if you won and you were not eligible for IVF, they will offer surrogate motherhood, embryos and eggs, so they are actually involving other parties as well.’
The Gambling Commission said it was not within its remit to consider ethical questions about a lottery when ruling on whether to grant a licence.
Waitrose said it gave To Hatch a one-off donation in 2010 through a scheme supporting charities serving the local community.
