– It has been a long road to where we are now. Erica Johanne Waldemarsen from Sauda and Cecilie Kleppe from Harstad have traveled to Oslo 17 times to make use of the state-supported IVF offer at the University Hospital in Oslo 14 trips for insertions, a toll trip, an assessment hour and an hour for a check-up. – We chose not to go home between egg retrieval and embryo insertion due to pain. Then it was rather expensive hotel stays. This is what the couple tells news, at the same time as they leaf through the hospital papers. – I had almost forgotten how much paper there was, Cecilie says with a laugh. Excited and full of enthusiasm. They will soon become parents of a little boy, and are happy that state-supported IVF can become available in Tromsø. Photo: Tora Jarnæs Vold / news – They could suddenly call me in the evening the day before an appointment, and say: “Put the ovulation probe in now, you have an appointment at 12 tomorrow”. – If the offer had been in Tromsø, the matter would have been different for us, now pregnant Erica tells news. Will offer services to all childless people in the North The Fertility Clinic at the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) in Tromsø currently only offers treatment to involuntarily childless people in heterosexual and marriage-like relationships. – Patients who have needed treatment with donor sperm have therefore had to travel to Oslo University Hospital or to a private IVF clinic, says Ida Terese Myrnes Olsen, at the IVF outpatient clinic in UNN, to news. UNN in Tromsø had supervision from the Norwegian Health Authority in 2022, where they were assessed as unsuitable for treatment with donor sperm. – But, this year we have been approved, says the superintendent. Ida Terese Myrnes Olsen, at the IVF outpatient clinic at UNN, confirms that the new offer will probably start in 2025. Photo: UNN – We therefore want to provide a treatment offer to all childless people, including lesbian couples and single women, as soon as we have the capacity and suitable premises. Myrnes Olsen confirms that this will probably start in 2025. Will make families possible for more people – An offer at your own hospital is recognition. That’s what Nina Wester says, who 10 years ago had to pay NOK 150,000 and travel to Denmark to get pregnant without a partner. Nina Wester had to go to Denmark to get help to get pregnant as a single person. today the offer can be obtained in Norway, and Wester thinks it is recognition that such an offer can be obtained in one’s own country. Photo: Private – I was 42 years old and had not found anyone to live with. I wanted to have children, and decided to do it that way. I can’t imagine how it would have been today without my daughter, who is now eight years old. Wester believes this will mean a lot to women in the north. – The fact that you can do it in a hospital close to you means that society shows that you accept this way of being a family. Shorter journey for sibling trials Erica and Cecilie have been traveling back and forth for 4 years. For them, 34 flights to and from Oslo were worth the effort. Now they are waiting for their little boy, who will arrive in January. Embryo photos among the hospital papers. The couple are looking forward to meeting their little boy in January. Photo: TORA JARNÆS VOLD / news – Those who want children, want children regardless of whether you are queer or single, and then you do what you have to. but it helps that the offer is closer. – It is more easily accessible, says Cecilie. Published 11.09.2024, at 19.51
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Will offer lesbians and singles IVF at UNN – news Troms and Finnmark
