IVF 




A woman treated unfavourably at the early stages of IVF treatment cannot bring a claim for pregnancy discrimination because she is not yet pregnant. Any negative treatment due to the IVF, such as being penalised for time off, will be sex discrimination, but only if a real or hypothetical man taking the same amount of time off for hospital appointments would have been treated better (Sahota v The Home Office and Pipkin [2009] UKEAT 0342/9/1512).




At the advanced stages of IVF, (between the retrieval of the ova and the immediate transfer of the fertilised ova into the uterus), the position is different. The ECJ has ruled that at this stage, EU law protects the woman from direct sex discrimination without needing to compare herself with a man. This is because only women can undergo invasive IVF treatment (Mayr v Backerei und Konditoreir Gerhard Flockner OHG [2008] IRLR 387).