Fertility, family planning and the law: a guide for women athletes and sports professionals

This article provides guidance on the key aspects of family law that may impact fertility planning and modern family-building options, including egg freezing, fertility treatment, and surrogacy – all of which are increasingly relevant to athletes and sports professionals. It was written for and first published by LawInSport in December 2025 and can also be viewed here.

Picture this, you are 24, you came fourth in the women’s 800m at the 2024 Olympic Games. You and your coaches know you’ve got one more ‘Games’ in you, your sponsors are supporting you, you’re landing brand deals and your professional life is going great. You put your personal life on hold for another four years. Now you are 28, the Games are a triumph and you win a medal, while you won’t compete in the next Games, you have to make the most of the opportunities and commercial prospects before you retire. A few years pass, the window of your professional peak felt so small and it was never the right time to prioritise having a baby.

Or maybe you have finally been transferred to Arsenal W.F.C., you have worked towards this for years, playing in teams all over to rise to this level. You are 25, and you give it everything you have for four years. You put off having a family until you step down from the team, but then you are offered a media role and you need to make the most of that opportunity to keep saving for your retirement (especially because most female players will not earn enough in their professional years to be able to retire early compared to their male counterparts). Another few years pass and still it is never the right time.

Another scenario, you are a professional netball player, you are thinking about having a baby with your partner and you have some basic fertility testing done. Your doctor advises you that your AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) levels are very low and she recommends you start IVF (in vitro fertilisation) immediately. You are about to start the new season, and you are worried about how the fertility drugs will impact your performance if you go ahead.

Family planning and having a baby can be a wonderful time, but it can also be stressful. Timing is everything and it does not always go to plan. The sorts of dilemmas described affect women in all walks of life but they are especially acute for professional sportswomen whose careers are built around peak physical performance, gruelling training schedules, travel commitments and maximising a small window of opportunity. It is not easy to know when the right time is to start a family.

Some people choose to delay this next step in their personal lives until they have met their professional goals, others may find they face unexpected fertility struggles which they have to balance with their demanding professional lives.

This article provides guidance on the key aspects of family law that may impact fertility planning and modern family-building options, including egg freezing, fertility treatment, and surrogacy – all of which are increasingly relevant to athletes and sports professionals.

It looks at:

• Egg freezing: preserving fertility for the future
• Legal updates on storage limits
• Consent forms & planning ahead
• Eggs vs embryos: what’s the best option?
• Fertility treatment: what to know as a single woman or couple
• Surrogacy: a pathway for women who cannot carry
• Legal parentage & parental orders
• Reform on the horizon?

Egg freezing is becoming an increasingly popular option for women who may want to delay starting a family. For athletes, this can provide peace of mind and flexibility, allowing them to focus on training and competition during peak performance years, while (hopefully) preserving the chance of starting a family later in life.

Until recently, the rules around storage were restrictive. Before 1 July 2022, you could only store eggs, sperm, or embryos for up to 10 years, unless facing premature infertility due to medical treatment. Fortunately, the law has changed. Now, eggs can be stored for up to 55 years, subject to a review and renewal every 10 years.[1]

If your eggs were stored before 1 July 2022, you may be able to extend storage by signing updated consent forms. Clinics can advise, but if stored for medical reasons, renewal every 10 years is mandatory or the eggs risk being disposed of.[2]

When undergoing fertility treatment to freeze eggs, you should be offered counselling and provided with comprehensive information [3]. One of the most important steps is completing a set of consent forms. These outline:

• What can be done with your eggs now and in the future
• What should happen to them if you die or become incapacitated
• Whether your eggs can be used by a partner, donated for research, or destroyed

A landmark 2015 case involved a couple fighting to honour their deceased daughter’s wish to use her eggs to conceive a grandchild [4]. Because her consent forms hadn’t been completed correctly, her parents had to go through extensive litigation. They ultimately won but the emotional and financial toll was significant. The takeaway: complete the forms carefully and seek legal advice if needed.

In the author’s experience, clinics often advise that embryos (eggs already fertilised with sperm) are more viable for future use than eggs alone. Embryos tend to survive thawing better and have a higher implantation success rate. However, freezing embryos with a partner carries risks – if you later separate and they withdraw consent, the embryos may have to be destroyed potentially leaving you with no ability to have a biological child. It is worth weighing up your options and considering what is right for you taking into account the risks of both eggs and embryos. You could consider freezing both eggs and embryos, but this will come with the additional cost of time and money, as well having to choose which eggs to freeze and which to fertilise.

Single women:
If you are considering fertility treatment as a single woman, you will be looking at sperm donation.

A donor can be found via a UK fertility clinic. The clinic will:

• Ensure the sperm is checked for genetic diseases
• Provide a physical description of the donor (and sometimes a personal description or goodwill message); and
• Provide medical history, year and country of birth, ethnicity, marital status and whether the donor has any other children when they donated, and if so, how many and their gender

The child will be able to obtain identifying information about the donor when they are aged 18 including name, date of birth and last known address [6].

The donor is not considered the legal father and will have no legal rights. They are not named on the birth certificate and have no financial responsibilities [7].

Using an overseas clinic (depending on the country and the formalities) or an informal donor can complicate matters. There is a risk that the donor might be recognised as the legal father and it is vital to take legal advice ahead of undergoing any treatment this way to understand the implications. You may require a sperm donor agreement or even a co-parenting agreement depending on the intentions.

Couples:
If you are undergoing IVF as a couple, the legalities are usually straightforward. In standard treatment, both parents have a biological link to the child and the mother will automatically acquire parental responsibility by giving birth to the child [8]. Parental responsibility means that a parent has legal rights and duties relating to a child, this includes providing a home for a child and protecting and maintaining that child. It also means that a parent is responsible for decisions regarding the child’s welfare such as what school they may attend, where they might live, giving permission to receive medical treatment and agreeing to name the child, including any changes of name [9].

The father can acquire parental responsibility by either being married to the mother at birth or being named on the birth certificate if unmarried, or later by entering into a parenting agreement (also known as a parental responsibility agreement) [10] (see format of a parental responsibility agreement here [11]). There are no further legal requirements. Even if you use donor sperm or eggs via a UK fertility clinic, the law determining parental responsibility still applies (as above, if you seek treatment abroad or use an informal donor, please take legal advice ahead of time).

It is, however, important to plan for all eventualities during treatment before a child is born and for ongoing embryo storage, regardless of whether you are using donors or your biological sperm or egg. In the author’s experience, both will be asked to sign consent forms setting out:

• Whether either of you can use embryos in the future; and
• What should happen to stored embryos if one party withdraws consent or dies

If intended parents are married or in a civil partnership, the partner is automatically recognised as the second legal parent [12]. If you are unmarried, additional legal forms must be completed at the clinic to ensure parentage is correctly recorded. Past audits at clinics (notably around 2015–2016) revealed widespread errors in how these forms were completed, resulting in High Court applications and stressful legal proceedings [13]. Because these forms carry significant legal consequences, a review by a solicitor is highly advisable if you have any concerns.

From a sports performance perspective, it’s worth noting that fertility treatment typically involves hormone injections and timed cycles. This can affect training, performance, and competition schedules. Whilst there is a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) on female infertility [14], careful consideration with medical advise would need to be given to the impact of any hormone treatment in an anti-doping capacity – something to plan for cautiously.

Surrogacy can also be an option for athletes and others in the industry who are unable or advised not to carry a pregnancy due to medical or physical concerns.

There are two types of surrogacy:

• Host or gestational surrogacy: Intended mother or donor egg is used, so the surrogate has no genetic link to the baby (this is the more common of the two)
• Straight or traditional surrogacy: Surrogate uses her own egg, creating a biological link to the child

Finding a surrogate can be difficult in the UK. Advertising for surrogates is illegal as is entering into a commercial, contractual relationship with the surrogate, and many people rely on known contacts or regulated non-profit agencies [15]. Due to legal uncertainties and a shortage of UK surrogates, many pursue surrogacy overseas (e.g., in the US or Canada).

Regardless of where the child is born, the biological connections or the use of donors, under English law, the surrogate is the legal mother at birth, and if married, her spouse is the legal second parent [16]. Even if a U.S. court names you as the legal parents, the UK will not recognise that birth certificate and parents absolutely must ensure the legal position is secured separately in the UK.

To become the legal parents in the UK, you must apply for a Parental Order [17] post-birth, and within six months of the child’s birth. This transfers legal parenthood and parental responsibility (PR) from the surrogate to the intended parents. It is a full legal solution and the child is legally treated as if they were always yours.

Current UK surrogacy law is outdated and many lawyers are calling for reform because the law has failed to keep up with evolving social attitudes and family structures. The Law Commission’s 2023 report proposed reforms to better regulate domestic surrogacy arrangements and protect both surrogates and intended parents. However, these reforms have not yet been adopted by the UK Government, but hopefully they will be in the future [19].

For now, anyone pursuing surrogacy, especially overseas, must navigate a legal framework that remains restrictive and uncertain.

For athletes and women working in the sports industry, the demands of career and performance often push family planning to the margins, but early planning and legal advice can make all the difference.

Whether you are freezing eggs, choosing a sperm donor, or considering surrogacy, taking legal advice at the outset will ensure that your future family’s position is secure. A short consultation now could prevent difficulties later down the line.

International note: If you work or compete abroad, be aware that legal parenthood is not automatically recognised across borders. What is valid in the UK may not hold elsewhere, another reason to get advice tailored to your personal circumstances.

[1] Health and Care Act 2022 Part 1, Schedule 17, Section 2(3)(a)

[2] Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, ‘New law comes into force giving greater flexibility for fertility parents’, www.hfea.gov.uk (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[3] Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, Code of Practice 9th edition (October 2023), Guidance note 3 ‘Counselling and patient support’ page 22.

[4] R (on the application of IM and MM) v HFEA [2015] EWHC 1706. Available here: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2015/1706.html (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[5] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Code of Practice 9th edition (October 2022), Guidance note 11 ‘Donor recruitment, assessment and screening’, page 109.

[6] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, Code of Practice 9th edition (October 2022), Guidance note 20, page 217, paragraph 20.9.

[7] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFA) Act 2008, Part 2, Section 41 (1).

[8] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFA) 2008, Part 2, Section 33(1).

[9] Children Act 1989 Part 1 Section 3

[10] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFA) 2008, Part 2, Section 35(1)(a), Section 37(1)(a)

[11] Parental Responsibility Agreement, Gov.UK, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65cc883639a8a7000f60d4fd/C_PRA1__0224.pdf (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[12] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 2008, Part 2, Section 35(1)(a) and Section 42(1).

[13] A & Ors (Human Fertilisations and Embryology Act 2008 [2015] EWHC 2602 (Fam). Available here: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/parentage.pdf (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[14] See Physician’s Guidelines issued by WADA: tue_physician_guidelines_female_infertility_-_version_2.0_-_january_2026.pdf (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[15] Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985, Section 2(1).

[16] Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 2008, Part 2, Section 33(1).

[17] Section 54 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

[18] SurrogacyUK, https://surrogacyuk.org/legal-reform/ (last accessed 9 December 2025)

[19] Available here: https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/surrogacy/ (last accessed 9 December 2025)