Women put their health last for baby

About 50,000 women undergo IVF in the UK each year. In 2007 I was one of them.

My desperation to overcome my endometriosis and have a baby overshadowed anything else.

Of course, my husband and I did our research and were careful in our choice of clinic.

But I never once questioned the drugs that were given to me, their possible side effects or the number of eggs that should be produced and removed.

My only concern was to get pregnant. I didn’t even think about my own health.

Now the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, Siobhain McDonagh, has presented a bill to Parliament in which she outlines the need for existing laws to be amended to protect women undergoing IVF.

She highlights evidence that women taking fertility drugs can develop conditions like cancer or ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a potentially dangerous complication.

Introducing her Bill, she said the existing law has led to “a total lack of monitoring and control of the drugs given to women”.

I was a little shocked that this multi-billion-pound industry was unregulated, so I wholeheartedly support Siobhain’s passion to safeguard the health of women who are undergoing IVF.

Because that longing for a baby is so powerful, most women will put their own health last.

So someone needs to be looking out for them.

AGE WOE