IVF survivorship disputes the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) industry’s preferred narratives of ‘curing’ infertility and ‘delivering on baby dreams’, ideas that play well in cultures that celebrate parenting. It is also a concept didn’t exist when I first considered the medical procedure. That was in the late 1990s. All I knew came from the well-oiled IVF industry hype machine. The growing and enormously profitable business portrayed IVF as the science world’s answer to modern family formation. IVF clinics intentionally portrayed this hugely invasive procedure as little more than more than a outpatient intervention. Little did we patient-consumers understand … until

Trauma is the focus of a new Slate podcast. Here, Slate breaks new ground. This is a radical departure from the typical saccharine narrative pushed by the IVF industry. Instead, this discussion delves into the lived reality of patients who endured failed IVF. You’ll hear from patients who underwent IVF recently as well as 15+ years ago. Very little has changed. The podcast explores how it feels to get an infertility diagnosis. What’s it’s like to bond with the embryo ultrasound photos clinics provide. And, there’s much more. The assisted reproductive technology industry (aka ‘fertility’ clinics) first arrived in the

Failed IVF and the taboo of infertility stories don’t often take center stage. A new video series Infertility Tales (featuring yours truly) sheds light on the complexity of IVF losses. My talk opens with a narrator sharing one of hundreds of comments left by New York Times readers after a feature story ran about people like me. The story, Facing Life Without Children When it Isn’t by Choice, surfaced surprising vitriol. Much of the feedback came from those who withhold empathy or compassion for people experiencing deeply held losses.

On July 25, 2018, Louise Brown, the world’s first baby born via in vitro fertilization (IVF), will turn forty. For those fortunate to have birthed healthy babies via IVF this anniversary will be celebratory. But for many millions more who attempted IVF and failed, and for women’s and infant health specialists still trying to assess and reduce medical risks, the 40th anniversary of IVF represents a different opportunity. It offers a chance to come forward with the well hidden side of IVF and spotlight concerns about safety, efficacy and the lack of consumer protections. Here’s how you can get involved

Confronting the stigma of failed fertility treatments and the negative perceptions of childless women This week around the world and across the blogosphere women came together to openly address a topic that is social kryptonite in our often one-dimensional, ‘let’s keep it light and fluffy’ culture: grief in the wake of failed fertility medicine. We were drawn to this uncomfortable subject, as Sarah writes so eloquently, by “the heart starving nature of the absence of ‘me too’ in human conversation — a daily normality for those of us in the early years of grieving childlessness and/or recovery from multiple failed fertility treatments.” It

In a first-of-its-kind interview four women who once engaged in fertility treatments openly explore society’s unhealthy baby bump obsession and the move away from pursuing pregnancy. Cristy and Mo, hosts of the ‘Bitter Infertiles’ podcast confront the fear of not succeeding with pregnancy and acknowledge the hazards of ‘infertility drifting’ with the author of the book and blog, Silent Sorority, and the blogger behind The Road Not Traveled. Read the full interview here >>>

In an interview about what led to her new ebook, Finally Heard: A Silent Sorority Finds Its Voice, award-winning author and recently named ‘Top Health Blogger’ Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos talks about the troubling profit-driven behavior contributing to fertility treatment patient trauma, the skyrocketing growth of the fertility industry and the skewed portrayal of fertility treatment outcomes. She also asks questions including: – After 37 years and significant growth in the fertility industry where is the code of conduct to ensure responsibility and accuracy in marketing of fertility treatment services? – Are we overdue in applying the lessons learned from ‘generation

In the July 27 TIME magazine print edition, Charlotte Alter reports: “Egg freezing, women are told, is a fountain of youth. Like most such promises, it doesn’t quite deliver. Some women will take home babies from their frozen eggs, but many won’t. And for a procedure pitched to anxious women as an ‘insurance policy,’ there is shockingly little data on exactly what their chances are.” Article Excerpt: “If doctors are trying to manage egg freezing expectations, some women who have tried multiple rounds of IVF are downright skeptical. ‘There is unfortunately a real growth industry here around those who see