One in six Australian couples experience infertility. Equal numbers of men and women have fertility issues.
Some of those couples need the help of assisted reproductive technology to have a baby, as explained in the video above.
IVF is an expensive option, and while it’s partially covered by Medicare in Australia, there are caps on the amount of subsidy couples can access.
IVF is also a very emotional and exhausting process for couples to undergo.
Jessica Rowe, Studio 10 co-host, writes with great honesty about her experiences of IVF in her book Is This My Beautiful Life?
“I wanted to scream, ‘I’m on IVF and I don’t know if I can be a mum… Don’t tell me how wonderful it is to be a mother! And don’t you dare complain about how tired you are’.
“There’s never been a better time in history to have children if you struggle having them naturally than there is now. But the assumption that we can just have children is a little bit of a myth beyond the age of 35,” Actor, Mary Coustas explained on Mia Freedman’s No Filter.
The 51-year-old actress is mother of two-year-old Jamie, but having the girl involved 23 rounds of IVF during a 10-year journey.
Listen to the interview here. (Post continues after recording.)
But IVF is also not always successful.
A recent Four Corners report highlighted very personal stories of women for whom IVF did not work.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m a fraud of a woman. I look like one, but my body just isn’t doing what I want it to do, which is to fall pregnant and have a child,” Grace Lococo told the ABC.
After 18 months and six rounds of IVF, Grace and her partner are $40,000 poorer and Grace has not fallen pregnant once.
