More British gay couples may get greater access to IVF treatment on the National Health Service under new guidelines.

This means same-sex couples should receive less resistance when trying to access fertility treatment.

Previously there has been no explicit guidelines regarding same-sex couples.

In the new guidelines, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) say same-sex couples should try artificial insemination six times before they have access to the treatment. Straight couples need to try to get pregnant for a year before they can access free IVF.

Artificial insemination success rates are variable, from 5-80% after 12 cycles, and are unlikely to be funded by the NHS, and it can cost up to £1000 ($1540, â‚¬1150) per cycle.

IVF also has a relatively low success rate, typically resulting in one in three pregnancies after two rounds of treatment.

The guidelines also now provide women aged between 40-42 with free fertility treatment, and includes suggested advice for couples with fertility issues.

James Taylor, UK-based gay charity Stonewall’s senior health officer, said he welcomed NICE’s new guidelines, which will ‘introduce equality for lesbians and will help dispel myths about same-sex parenting’.

‘NICE is only a guideline, so moving to full implementation would be a welcome step forward in the future,’ Taylor told Gay Star News.

‘The new guideline helps dispel some of the myths around same-sex parenting and recognizes the changes in soceity and protections in law towards same-sex couples’.

Hannah Latham, editor of the LGBT-targeted We Are Family magazine, told GSN everyone within childbearing age should be allowed to have a child.

She said: ‘In this day and age families come in all shapes and sizes and nobody, whether gay, straight, married, unmarried, single, in a relationship or below a certain age but still within childbearing age should be denied the opportunity to have a child over someone else.

‘These proposed guidelines redress the balance.’