A Kent fertility clinic is giving couples the chance to win money off IVF treatment.
Former Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe has criticised the move.
She said: “The idea it can be offered as a prize as if it were a cake at a WI stall is just appalling.”
Trivialise
She added that this is something likely to involve “considerable disappointment” and that it “trivialises” infertility.
The South East Fertility Clinic (SEFC) is giving five couples the chance to win £1000 off IVF treatment and a free consultation.
It is part of the clinic’s fifth anniversary celebrations.
Competition
The clinic’s managing director Ruth Hardy says this competition may give couples struggling to conceive “the encouragement they need” to seek their services.
SEFC see this as giving couples in the area a “fair and equal opportunity” to start a much-wanted family.
One IVF treatment cycle at the SEFC costs £3000 plus £175 for an initial consultation.
But many couples need more than one cycle and so spend thousands of pounds before getting successfully pregnant.
Desperate
Josephine Quintavalle, of think tank Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said having a raffle like this is “feeding off people’s desperation.”
Last July, critics condemned the launch of Britain’s first IVF lottery.
For £20, players can enter a draw to win £25,000 worth of tailor-made fertility treatments.