Infertility and the women sold a lie

Sally CHESHIRE, chair of the human Fertilisation and embryology authority (HFEA), warned this week that older women are being exploited by some IVF clinics which are ‘trading on hope’.

These unscrupulous institutions extract large sums of money from desperate women for whom there are minimal chances of a successful conception. She accused them of using ‘selective success rates’ to target older women.

Four decades on from the birth of the first iVF baby, louise Brown, there could not be a more damning indictment of some parts of the lucrative iVF ‘industry’ — which is what it has become.

infertility was once a lifelong state. Couples could adopt or remain childless. Now, iVF seems to hold the promise of women ‘having it all’. They can focus on career and relationships in their 20s and 30s and then, when they’re ready, science will help them to defy the biological odds and have a child.

high-profile women who have given birth in their late 30s and 40s, whether naturally or by iVF — alex Jones, Mylene Klass, halle Berry — unwittingly help cement this myth.

But women have been sold a lie. having a child is not a right but a biological privilege, and one with a tight time frame. Delay is at a woman’s peril.

Science may allow us to improve the odds slightly, but it’s far more limited than many in the iVF industry would have us believe.

among women aged 42 to 43, just 3 per cent will end up with a baby. For those over 44, the success rate is just 1 per cent.

Those are poor odds for something so costly and emotionally draining. The harsh but honest message is that iVF rarely works for older women.