\u201cBut the thing about IVF is there\u2019s no just \u2018getting pregnant\u2019. Every round is just heartbreaking, jumping through these hurdles, hoping for a good outcome and not knowing if it\u2019s ever going to happen for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
After four \u201cfinancially draining\u201d rounds, the couple could no longer afford private care and underwent two additional rounds at Victoria\u2019s public fertility service.<\/p>\n
Doctors at Melbourne\u2019s Royal women\u2019s hospital looked at their medical history and found that the endometriosis<\/a> Cassie had previously been told \u201cshouldn\u2019t affect\u201d her fertility was doing just that.<\/p>\n They ended up taking a different approach and the couple conceived their daughter, Xena \u2013 named after the warrior princess and born on Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n \u201cXena is an absolute miracle,\u201d Cassie says. \u201cSometimes I look at her and I just honestly can\u2019t believe how we got so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid the fallout of bungles at Monash IVF<\/a>, Cassie \u2013 who wasn\u2019t a patient of the private provider \u2013 is part of a growing chorus of Australians calling for fertility care to return to public hands, where it all began nearly five decades ago.<\/p>\n Cassie and Steven Van Swol with their four-month-old daughter Xena. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian\u2018This is the new normal\u2019<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s first baby conceived through in vitro fertilisation, Candice Elizabeth Reed, was born on 23 June 1980.<\/p>\n Dubbed \u201cAustralia\u2019s first test tube baby\u201d and the \u201cmillion-dollar baby\u201d by the Australian Women\u2019s Weekly, Reed was the culmination of a decade\u2019s research and work at the Royal women\u2019s hospital, the Queen Victoria medical centre, Melbourne University and Monash University.<\/p>\n The Weekly reported that the program was at risk of closing down because it was running out of funds, with researchers seeking donations to keep going.<\/p>\n A Royal women\u2019s hospital obstetrician, Ian Johnston \u2013 part of the team who delivered baby Candice \u2013 thought the fertility treatments they had developed were \u201cpotentially enormous\u201d and could ultimately help as many as 70,000 infertile Australian women.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t exaggerating. In 2022 alone about 20,000 babies were born in Australia and New Zealand thanks to assisted reproductive technology.<\/p>\n Forty-five years on from that birth, IVF is big business<\/a>. Australia\u2019s 100 or so clinics are mostly privately owned and operated, and access often depends on what patients can afford.<\/p>\n IVF costs up to $10,000 out-of-pocket for each cycle, with the price varying dramatically across clinics and depending on the treatments needed. Patients require an average of three cycles.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the fertility treatment started off in the public women\u2019s hospitals and was to a certain extent publicly funded,\u201d says Dr Manuela Toledo, the medical director of TasIVF and a board member of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand. \u201cThen, after the success of the first IVF births around the world, groups split off and formed the private clinics.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happened now is that IVF is in such high demand \u2026 every classroom at the moment has a child there as a result of IVF. One in five couples are now experiencing infertility and we need to understand that this is the new normal.\u201d<\/p>\n That shift has raised concerns about how people, desperate for a child, are being treated.<\/p>\n There are worries that success rates are inflated, that non-evidence based \u201cadd-ons\u201d are being sold. And the expense makes it inequitable.<\/p>\n Errors \u2013 at Monash IVF there have been two separate cases of the wrong embryo being implanted \u2013 have further shaken public trust.<\/p>\n Now state and federal governments are examining the fertility industry\u2019s underpinnings, with a \u201crapid review\u201d looking at establishing consistent national rules and an independent accreditor.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to inject some confidence and independence and transparency into that system,\u201d said the federal health minister, Mark Butler.<\/p>\n The Monash IVF mistakes may have sparked the review but its outcome could have much broader implications, including better and more affordable fertility treatments and a renewed focus on public funding.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat will improve the birthrate in the long term are publicly funded IVF clinics, so patients can access them based on their need,\u201d Toledo says. \u201cWe know there\u2019s a lot of individuals and couples out there who will never see the inside of an IVF clinic because they can\u2019t afford it, and that is not right.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n And \u201cthe fact that people are accessing their superannuation \u2026 sends a very clear message that there needs to be more public funding\u201d.<\/p>\n The number of applications to the Australian Taxation Office for super to pay for IVF has been rising, from 3,380 in 2018-19 to 5,200 in 2023-24. Of those 5,200, 4,210 were approved for 3,460 individuals (each new cycle needs a new application). Individuals withdrew an average of about $18,500.<\/p>\n \u201cThe psychological impact of not being able to conceive can be significant and it\u2019s unfair that some women are being forced to decide between their wellbeing in retirement and their health today,\u201d says the Super Consumers Australia chief executive, Xavier O\u2019Halloran.<\/p>\n A range of third-party service providers now exist to help patients, for a fee, access their super.<\/p>\n O\u2019Halloran warns people to look out for other costs such as taxes, which are typically between 17% and 22% on an early withdrawal, as well as the compounding impact of that withdrawal on the eventual retirement amount.<\/p>\n The Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand has a 10-year roadmap for a sector overhaul, written by Greg Hunt, a former Coalition health minister, and Rachel Swift, a healthcare consultant and former Liberal candidate.<\/p>\n It notes that as the age of hopeful parents keeps going up, so too will demand for medical help, and calls for uniform laws, a national fertility plan, an independent accreditation authority with a formal complaints process, and real-time reporting systems for adverse events and complications.<\/p>\n It highlights that publicly funded IVF is \u201climited and inconsistent\u201d and economic barriers could be reduced by setting up more public units, or by providing a low-income subsidy to be redeemed through private clinics.<\/p>\n There are some Medicare and pharmaceutical benefits scheme rebates for IVF. Some states, including New South Wales, provide additional rebates.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m so grateful\u2019: Cassie Van Swol with Xena. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n![\"Harvest](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1436.jpg\")
Harvest – is freezing my eggs the answer?<\/p>\n