Category: Voices

The Untold Stories of IVF

IVF add-ons

IVF Add-Ons: Scientific, Ethical, Regulatory and Legal Considerations

Harvard Law’s Petrie-Flom Center recently hosted an event focused on IVF Add-ons. This event included several experts in reproductive medicine for a discussion of the scientific, ethical, regulatory, and legal considerations of IVF add-ons, with a particular focus on the add-on procedure known as PGT-A, preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy. Eli Adashi, Professor of Medical…
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December 20, 2020 0
breast cancer

I went to my fertility specialist to have a child, I left with a breast cancer

My name is Camille and I’m French. I began the IVF process at age 39 and stopped after 5 rounds at age 41. I work in the fields of culture in Paris in France where I live with my boyfriend. My story: After 2 years of trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant, we opted for in…
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January 18, 2019 1
IVFis40

#IVFis40

Editor’s Note: IVFis40 is the hashtag used by the IVF industry to both call attention to the messages it wants the public to see, and to generate new business leads. There’s another side to the #IVFis40 message. It’s #UnmaskingIVF This is our first photo essay created July 21, 2018, in the week that Louise Brown…
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July 23, 2018 1
medical negligence

Medical Negligence | Soul Changing, Soul Destroying

Editor’s Note: The couple (based in Europe) who provided this essay prefer not to be named as their work with a private clinic led to a medical negligence lawsuit. We respect their right to privacy and appreciate their willingness to relive and share a painful experience. Here’s their story… Matters of the mind often appear…
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July 16, 2018 1
Egg Freezing Jemma Kennedy

The fertility industry trades in hope but freezing my eggs has offered me none

Egg freezing is costly and emotionally draining. That’s just some of what Jemma Kennedy, a novelist, playwright and screenwriter learned first hand. Her latest play, GENESIS INC, opened this summer at the Hampstead Theatre. She has written and spoken about her ReproTech experiences since freezing her eggs in 2014. She gave permission for us to…
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July 5, 2018 0
IVF miscarriage

The Side of IVF You Won’t Hear About in the Media

‘Bamberlamb’ is from the Midlands area in England and was 34 when she began IVF after two ectopic pregnancies in her twenties. She waited until she was 34 due to a waiting list for IVF on the NHS.  After her IVF miscarriage she began a blog about living with infertility. She works full time as…
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May 16, 2018 14
IVF

IVF Left Us Traumatised and Heartbroken

Former IVF patient Professor James Arvanitakis is a Lecturer in Humanities; Dean, Graduate Studies at West Sydney University; a writer and a contributor to ABCNews24 Breakfast. In 2012 he was named Prime Minister’s University Lecturer of the Year. He wrote the following piece for the The Sydney Morning Herald and agreed to let us share…
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April 24, 2018 2
IVF

IVF Revisited: Emotional, Physical and Financial Torture

I am 39 years old and from Australia. It’s been 10 years since ending IVF treatment in bitter disappointment; 14 years since starting to ‘try’; 16 years married; 20 years together. My story: I was in an administration job I hated when we first started IVF but after treatment failed I went back to university…
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March 1, 2018 3
False Hope

When IVF Clinics Deliver False Hope

False hope doesn’t serve anyone well, yet it’s predominant in the IVF industry. IVF is often misrepresented or portrayed in an overly simplified, one-dimensional way. Further, the ‘medicalizalization’ of IVF and clinic emphasis on selling cycles and promoting protocols subverts a patient’s emotional needs. In a podcast with fellow former IVF patient Cathy Broadwell, Pamela…
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February 2, 2018 1