Couple who spent £23k on fertility left heartbroken after finding out their embryos will be 'destroyed' as donor withdraws permission
A couple who spent £23,000 on fertility treatment were 'absolutely floored' after being told their remaining embryos will be 'allowed to perish' because their sperm donor withdrew consent.
Natalie, 37, and Nik Fraser-Edwards, 36, from Penyffordd, North Wales, were told they did not qualify for NHS IVF funding and were forced to pay for treatment privately.
They eventually welcomed their son, Jude, after nine months of unsuccessful fertility treatment. But the couple had hoped to use their remaining embryos to give him siblings.
Now, they are calling for a change to UK fertility laws after their clinic told them their donor had withdrawn consent for the use of their embryos.
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Under current UK rules, sperm or egg donors can withdraw consent up until an embryo is transferred into the womb.
The couple say their five remaining embryos will be 'allowed to perish' in January, with no prospect of a refund for the thousands of pounds they spent on treatment.
Natalie and Nik met in 2021 and tied the knot two years later.
After struggling to conceive, they spent nine months undergoing different rounds of fertility treatment, including artificial insemination.
They say they were unable to access NHS-funded treatment because of the rules in Wales.
Natalie explained: "In NHS Wales you have to do so many rounds of fertility treatment before you are considered for any NHS treatment.
"If I was a single lady, having difficulties with periods, which I was at the time, I probably would have qualified on my own for treatment.
"But being in a same sex couple, that's sadly not the case."
The couple took out loans to fund their treatment before turning to ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), where an egg is fertilised with sperm outside the body before the resulting embryo is transferred.
The treatment resulted in six embryos, with one eventually used in their 'shared motherhood' journey.
Natalie carried Jude, who was born in August last year.
She said: "When I think back to that time, it was absolutely gutting. Everyone around us was having babies, and it was just not working for us.
"It was an extremely emotional period."
Jude was described by Natalie as a 'dream come true', and the couple had always hoped he would have siblings.
Natalie said: "From the minute he was born, it has been magic.
"One of the biggest things we have struggled with was not having parents - I don't think you realise how much you need a mum until you have a baby!
"But we are very lucky because we have a village of friends around us, and Jude is so loved."
When Nik saw Natalie carry Jude, she said she became desperate to carry another child herself.
'We just want our baby'
But on 12 June this year, after returning from the family's first holiday, the couple received a call from their clinic consultant.
They were told their sperm donor had withdrawn consent for the embryos to be used.
Nik, an occupational therapist, said: "We were absolutely floored because we didn't even know that was something that could happen.
"They are what we have created; they are the start of life for our family and Jude's brothers or sisters.
"We don't want money, and nothing takes away from Jude - he is everything to us - but we just want our baby.''
Natalie said the clinic told them they could not speak to the donor.
She said: "When we asked if we could speak to the donor, the clinic said no, and when we asked what happens next, we were informed the law states there is a 12-month cooling period where the embryos are taken out of the freezer and are allowed to perish.
"Apparently the donor withdrew his consent in January, and the clinic only told us in June.
"We are so upset about it and wished they could have told us sooner because we would have wanted more time to fight for them.
"Nik is now grieving that potential loss of not being able to carry too."
The couple claim they were not verbally told that the donor could withdraw consent after the embryos had been created, and only discovered the possibility in the 'small print' of a contract they had signed.
'It's a race against time'
They are now campaigning for the law to be changed so that once an embryo has been created, donor consent cannot be withdrawn.
Natalie said: "We don't know the gentleman’s circumstances; they aren't obliged to say, but what we are so upset about is how at this late stage we can't just have our embryos?
"We are happy living our little life - but we have limited other family to help support us. We cannot afford to do this again.
"The archaic laws around donor consent at the embryo creation stage were created back in 1990 - they are so outdated that they were created before gay marriage was even legalised.''
The couple have launched a petition calling for the law to be reviewed and are seeking 10,000 signatures for it to be considered by the government.
Natalie said: "It's a race against time and we are determined to raise awareness.
"Since launching the petition, we've realised we are not the only ones this has happened to, and it's not as rare as we thought."
Mark Tami, Labour MP for Alyn and Deeside, has written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on their behalf, asking whether the government 'has any plans to review the current legislative framework governing consent in assisted reproduction'.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the UK government 'sympathises with anyone facing difficult and distressing circumstances during fertility treatment'.
They added: "We continue to work closely with the fertility sector to support high-quality, compassionate care, and we keep all aspects of the regulatory regime under review to the same end."
Natalie and Nik's petition is available here.
Rhiannon Ingle