Same-sex couples and single women are facing a huge disadvantage compared to heterosexual couples when it comes to fulfilling their dream of starting a family. They pay higher costs upfront to access publicly-funded fertility treatment and now those in need of a donor, are also facing longer wait-times.
Before the pandemic began those looking for a donor only had to wait around a year to 18 months, but today those at the largest clinic in the country, Fertility Associates, are looking at a three-year wait.
The other two clinics, Fertility Plus, and Repromed, have average wait-times of 12-18 and 18-19 months respectively.
Fertility Associates medical director, Dr Andrew Murray, says the lockdowns, and the increase of women seeking donors, has exacerbated a long-standing issue with supply.
"Because we were unable to see many of the guys that were coming forward to volunteer to be donors during the lockdowns, that's really put us behind, in being able to increase the number of available donors to our patients."
He says the current wait-times are just too long.
Jordan Sumner is one of those who's on the wait list, and says it's daunting when there are few other options. She's always dreamed of having a child, but says it just hasn't been the right time.
She now feels ready, but feels it's out of her control.
"It feels like you've got somewhere really, really urgent to go to, and you are shackled."
Dr Murray says the clinic has been lobbying for change to the legislation to try and alleviate some of the barriers to boosting its banks. He says Tamati Coffey's Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill, if passed, could help with the lack of donor supply, by opening up the potential to compensate donors for their time and effort.
"We are not talking outright commercial surrogacy, but we don't want our donors to be financially worse off," he says.
The proposed change would still make it an offence to "give or receive valuable consideration" for donations, but payments for the "actual and reasonable expenses" incurred would be allowed.
But Murray says further amendments to the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act are needed to boost our supplies - including enabling the importation of egg and sperm donations, as long as it's from clinics that meet our regulations here.
"We aren't currently allowed to import sperm, and that could solve our problem overnight," he says.
"The way things are at the moment, someone who is a single woman a same sex couple, they are currently being discriminated against for starting a family and I don't think that's right."
For many seeking to start a family, the cost of accessing fertility treatment is also prohibitive. In particular for single women and same sex couples who are only eligible for publicly-funded clinics, when 12 previous rounds have been unsuccessful.
A more even playing field would require the Ministry of Health to reconsider its policy. In a statement Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand says it had recently received correspondence from people disputing the fairness of the criteria.
It adds while it works to ensure people are provided with high-quality public health care, with "finite resources there is a need to balance and prioritise government funding for health services so they are sustainable in the long-term".
But not everyone has a friend so willing, leaving hundreds at mercy of a wait-list that could be longer than they have.
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