Preserving your fertility as a trans woman or non-binary person

The decision to start a family can often feel overwhelming, particularly if you’re an LGBTQ+ person whose pathway to parenthood can take many different routes. If you’re a trans woman or non-binary person who is planning on having gender-affirming surgery, either now or later on, it’s worth thinking about your future fertility options.

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Fertility preservation for trans women and non-binary people

Preserving your fertility as a trans woman or non-binary person with sperm is straightforward, requiring just a few gamete samples.

We recommend preserving your fertility before you start gender-affirming treatment, however, it may still be possible to preserve your fertility after.

We understand that this could mean postponing or temporarily stopping hormone treatment which can be a difficult decision. We’re here to support you no matter, get in touch and we can talk you through your options.

Treatment

How does fertility preservation for trans women work?

The gamete freezing process is relatively simple - we just require a few fresh gamete samples for testing and freezing purposes.

Fertility and screening tests

We'll first carry out a gamete analysis to assess whether you have viable sperm to freeze. We'll also screen for any infection diseases, such as HIV or hepatitis C. The results of these screening tests won't stop you from freezing your gametes, but will ensure that any affected samples are stored separately from others to prevent contamination.

Gamete sample

Following these tests, you'll need to produce a fresh sample which will be frozen. In most cases, you'll come into your chosen TFP Fertility clinic where you'll produce your sample in one of our production rooms. If this causes you some anxiety, you also have the option of producing your sample at home - we just ask that it's brought back to the clinic within one hour.

If you’re unable to produce a sample, we can also retrieve it using a procedure called surgical gamete retrieval.

Gamete freezing

Once we have your gamete sample, this is mixed with a cryoprotectant to protect the gametes from damage during freezing.

Before freezing, the gamete sample is divided into separate containers so that it can be used in multiple treatments, if required. The samples are then rapidly cooled using a method called vitrification and safely stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen.

How much does fertility preservation for trans women cost?

You'll find a breakdown of a typical gamete freezing cycle below, as well as the cost of a fertility assessment to help provide you with the answers you need to plan for your future.

*Any medication required throughout your treatment will be an additional cost.

**All prices are subject to a regional variation.