What Is Reciprocal IVF? A Complete Guide to Shared Motherhood

Most people assume that in a same-sex female couple, only one partner can be biologically involved in having a baby. 

Reciprocal IVF changes that completely! 

With shared motherhood IVF, one partner provides the egg and the other carries the pregnancy. Both partners are part of their child’s story from day one.

If you have been curious about how reciprocal IVF works in the UK, what it actually costs, and what to expect, this guide walks you through it all.

What Is Reciprocal IVF?

Reciprocal IVF (also called shared motherhood or ROPA, which stands for Reception of Oocytes from Partner) is a treatment where one partner’s eggs are fertilised with donor sperm and the resulting embryo is placed into the other partner’s womb to carry.

One partner is the genetic mother. The other is the birth mother. Both are connected to their child in a real, physical way. 

For many couples, this shared involvement is what makes reciprocal IVF such a meaningful choice compared to other fertility treatment options.

How Does Reciprocal IVF Work?

Here is how the process unfolds at IVF London, from your very first appointment through to the pregnancy test.

Step 1: Fertility Assessment for Both Partners

Both partners come in together.

Our team checks hormone levels, ovarian reserves, and overall health to work out who is best placed to provide the eggs and who will carry the pregnancy.

Everything from here is built around those results.

Step 2: Implications Counselling

Before anything starts, you will both attend an implications counselling session. This is a UK legal requirement when donor sperm is used.

It covers what donor conception means for your family and the fact that children born from UK donations after April 2005 can ask for information about their donor when they turn 18.

Think of this session as a time to ask every question you have been sitting on.

Step 3: Stimulating and Collecting the Eggs

The partner providing the eggs takes hormone injections for around 10 to 14 days to encourage the ovaries to produce several eggs at once. 

You will have regular scans and blood tests during this time. The egg collection itself is done under sedation and takes about 25 minutes.

Step 4: Fertilisation

In our laboratory, the eggs are fertilised with HFEA-licensed donor sperm and left to develop for a few days. 

Our embryologists monitor them throughout.

While the embryos are developing, the carrying partner takes hormone medication to get the womb lining ready to receive the embryo.

Step 5: Embryo Transfer

One embryo is transferred into the carrying partner’s womb. 

We follow UK best practice by transferring a single embryo, which gives the best chance of a healthy pregnancy. 

The procedure takes just a few minutes and does not require sedation.

Step 7 – The Pregnancy Test

Two weeks after the transfer, a blood test tells you whether you are pregnant. 

Our team is with you through whatever comes next.

Who Can Have Reciprocal IVF?

Shared motherhood IVF is an option for:

• Same-sex female couples where both partners want to be physically part of the pregnancy
• Couples where one partner has a better egg reserve, and the other is better suited to carry
• Trans men or non-binary couples where one partner can provide eggs and the other can carry

A fertility assessment will confirm what is right for your specific situation.

Reciprocal IVF Success Rates in the UK

In reciprocal IVF, the eggs come from one partner directly, so reciprocal IVF success rates tend to follow donor egg IVF outcomes closely.

According to the HFEA’s Fertility Treatment 2022 report, the average live birth rate using frozen embryo transfers in the UK was 30% per embryo transferred. 

For patients aged 18 to 34, it reached 35% with fresh transfers.

The HFEA’s key facts show that when donor eggs are used, live birth rates stay above 25% per embryo transferred across all age groups. 

That compares to just 5% for patients over 43 using their own eggs.

Our team will talk through what the numbers mean for your specific situation, not just in general.

Reciprocal IVF Legal Rights and Parental Status in the UK

This part matters a lot, so please read it carefully.

In the UK, the person who gives birth is the legal mother, regardless of whose egg was used. If you are married or in a civil partnership, your partner is automatically a legal parent too. 

If you are not, your partner has no automatic legal rights over the child unless you both sign the right HFEA consent forms before treatment begins.

Completing those forms correctly, before you start, is how you protect both of you. Our team will make sure nothing is missed.

In late 2024, couples having shared motherhood through IVF no longer need to go through donor-level screening. 

You are now screened as partners, the same as any opposite-sex couple. This saves time and makes the process more straightforward for same-sex couples.

Reciprocal IVF Risks: What You Should Know

Reciprocal IVF is safe for the vast majority of people. That said, there are risks worth knowing about:

• Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) – the egg-providing partner’s ovaries over-respond to the stimulation medication. Mild cases are common; severe cases are rare and carefully monitored.
• Ectopic pregnancy – where the embryo implants outside the womb rather than inside it.
• The cycle may not work – not every transfer leads to a pregnancy, and that is something to prepare for emotionally as well as practically.
• Multiple pregnancy – transferring a single embryo keeps this risk very low.

Your consultant will go through all of this with you at your initial consultation.

Reciprocal IVF Cost in the UK

Here are the core costs for shared motherhood treatment at IVF London:

Medication and blood tests are not included and vary from person to person. 

After your consultation, you will receive a fully itemised treatment plan, so you know exactly what to expect before you commit to anything.

View the full IVF London Price List for everything else.

Want to Know If This Is Right for You?

The best first step is a conversation, not a commitment. 

Book a free mini consultation with our team, and we will help you understand whether reciprocal IVF is the right path for both of you.