Aggregated News
England’s first not-for-profit fertility clinic has shut within a year of opening and has been sold to a private provider, in what one of its founders called “a tragedy for women”.
The game-changing clinic – operated by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), better known for providing abortions – promised to take the profit out of fertility treatment when it opened in December 2021.
The idea was to provide IVF at cost price, with a transparent pricing structure and a promise to only perform evidence-based procedures rather than the unproved “add-ons” promoted by some private clinics. The ultimate plan was to use BPAS clinics across the UK to offer satellite services, such as consultations and scans, while egg collection and embryo transfers would be done at the London-based fertility clinic.
Yet eight months into operation, BPAS’s board decided to shut down the service without telling the public why. It stopped taking on patients in August last year, and this February the clinic was quietly sold to a private, for-profit provider.
Bridge Clinic London now operates the service, maintaining a commitment...
