The pain of infertility isn’t something that can be described, but more than six million American women know the pain all too well. When in vitro fertilization was first introduced in 1977, it offered an innovative and unprecedented way to help women overcome infertility and carry their own children. However, IVF comes with its own obstacles and complications. For as many people as it has helped, IVF has also proved too difficult or expensive to others.
What is IVF?
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is an assisted reproductive technology (ART) that helps women become pregnant. During IVF, a woman’s eggs are extracted and manually fertilized with a man’s sperm. The resulting embryo can be transferred into the uterus to produce a pregnancy. If the fertilization creates more than one healthy embryo, the others can either be transferred into the uterus at the same time or saved for future pregnancy attempts.
The success rate of IVF varies based on age group. For women under the age of 35, about 42% of IVF cycles result in a successful pregnancy and birth. That rate decreases with age, with women over 40 only achieving a 15% success rate.
The True Expenses of IVF
IVF has helped many women and couples have babies when natural conception failed, but the financial costs of IVF are sometimes prohibitive. The average IVF treatment costs $20,000 per cycle, though insurance rarely covers it. This forces infertile women and couples to either take on debt, minimize their lifestyles, or avoid the possibility of having a child at all.
Despite the fact that IVF treatment is a direct response to infertility, which is a medical condition, widespread insurance coverage for IVF is not yet a reality in America. In fact, some insurance companies still consider IVF experimental, even though 8 million healthy babies have been born around the world through IVF.
Advocates for full IVF insurance coverage argue that jut like insurance covers knee surgery for runners and reconstructive breast surgery for cancer patients, insurance should also cover infertility treatments for women and men unable to conceive.
Why Choose Surrogacy, Instead?
Many couples are moving away from using IVF themselves and choosing surrogacy as their reproductive solution instead. Gestational surrogacy makes it possible for infertile couples, gay men, and individuals to grow their families.
Surrogacy is excellent option for women who cannot physically receive IVF due to age, problems with the uterus, or other medical conditions. As surrogacy becomes more accepted by our society, advocacy groups continue to push to make surrogacy more acceptable to men and women who want to have their own biological children. Men Having Babies is one example of a powerful advocacy group committed to giving intended parents financial support and assistance throughout the surrogacy process.
Working with a compassionate, responsive, and experienced surrogacy agency makes all the difference in this journey to having children. Open Arms Surrogacy and Egg Donation guides intended parents through the complex world of assisted reproduction in order to help them live out their dream of having children. Call (941) 229-8572 now to learn more about the Florida surrogacy and egg donation services offered by the experts at Open Arms.
