One in seven British couples has trouble conceiving; they go through the heartbreak and frustration of finding out that they cannot have children, often after years of trying. Whilst some decide to adopt, others look to fertility treatment such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), which can cost thousands of pounds, with no real guarantee that it will work. As a last resort, some couples look to donor treatment. The problem however is that, along with being expensive, there is a shortage of eggs and sperm in the UK and it can take between 18 months and two years to receive donated eggs. Yet the waiting time is much, much shorter abroad, and many British couples are becoming ‘fertility tourists’ as a result.

In Britain, there is no donor anonymity and it is also illegal to be paid for eggs or sperm. In Spain, the picture is very different; as such, the country has become the centre of fertility tourism. There is no shortage of eggs because women are paid €900 for them and the country has good clinics. As a result, couples from the UK and elsewhere go to Spain in the hope of becoming parents. The success rate is higher – around 65% compared to 40% in British clinics – and the waiting time is shorter, around five weeks. There is donor anonymity in Spain which means that children born from donor eggs are not able to find out who their natural parents are.

The other fertility tourists are those going in search of IVF. Women who are not eligible to get treatment in the public hospitals in the UK because they are 40 or over (the cut-off point for free in-vitro fertilisation treatment in the UK) go to Denmark, the Czech Republic or Slovakia, where the age limit is not as strict and the treatment is much cheaper. A few years ago, Elizabeth Adeney, 66, became Britain’s oldest mother after undergoing fertility treatment in the Ukraine. Experts warn that older women, especially those over the age of 50, are more at risk of dangerous complications during pregnancy. There are also concerns that clinics in some countries are not subject to the same regulations and checks as British centres. The vast majority of so-called fertility tourists are from Italy, followed by Germany. Britain is sixth on the list.

In 2008, over 1,600 children were born in the UK thanks to donated sperm (977) , eggs (541) or embryos (82). However, there are not enough sperm or egg donors to meet the demand from couples who have found out they cannot have children naturally, forcing some to go abroad. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) says that more men need to donate sperm. In 2008, it registered 396 sperm donors, a drop in number since donors lost their right to anonymity in 2005. This means that children can find out who their biological father is when they turn 18. But the HFEA, along with other organisations in this field, believe that donors make a real difference to people’s lives and that more should come forward in the UK. "The experience of people who have had donor-conceived children shows that this can be a positive way to create a family," it says.