Fertile Ground

Fertility treatments have come a long way, and so have attitudes towards them. Three Kiwi women talk frankly about their experiences, and why it was all worth it

The desire to have a family may be natural, but it’s not always easy. Latest research shows up to a quarter of couples experience infertility. But the good news is there are more fertility treatments than ever, and a wide range of people seeking them, including ostensibly healthy young couples with ‘unexplained infertility’, single women wanting to improve their chances, and young women opting to freeze their eggs for when the time is right. Fertility Associates, which has 18 clinics across New Zealand, says when they first opened in 1987, couples had a 15% chance of having a baby; that now sits at 50%. And while going private is out of reach for many – one cycle of IVF costs around $8600, or up to $14,000 including medication – Kiwis can access up to two fertility treatments paid for by the government if they meet certain criteria. NEXT spoke to three women who have all been on different fertility journeys to talk all things egg freezing, IVF and breaking the stigma of infertility.

LIZ SCOTT, 34

Liz and her fiancé had to explore fertility options following a vasectomy reversal

When my partner and I got together we knew it’d be difficult to have children as he’d had a vasectomy during his previous marriage. We did a vasectomy reversal, which was semi-successful, but it wasn’t enough to get pregnant naturally. After a year we realised ‘Okay, we won’t be able to do this by ourselves’. We had all the tests and they said, “You’ll have to go ahead with IVF.” We applied to go on the list for public funding but because we hadn’t been trying long enough, we didn’t qualify. That was 2014.