7 months after it was promised, families waiting on IVF travel funding say they're losing hope

Leah Stultz says she felt "euphoric" last August when Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister John Haggie said funding for families who need to travel for in vitro fertilization would be coming within weeks.

The 28-year-old Portugal Cove-St. Philip's woman got a referral for IVF treatment from the province's only fertility clinic and began fundraising to cover part of the cost, which ranges from $10,000 to more than $20,000. More than seven months later, that funding has yet to materialize. Stultz told CBC News she's disappointed, but not surprised.

"All of us that were hoping for this funding have had our hopes up, but also in the back of our minds never really expected it to follow through," she said.

Stultz and her fianc, who both work as cooks, were originally given the option to try IVF in 2018, but Stultz opted for surgery instead because it was a less expensive option. While the surgery was a success, she still hasn't been able to conceive and has had six failed intrauterine insemination procedures.

If the funding doesn't come soon, Stultz said,she'll look at taking out a line of credit or a loan to help pay for the procedure.

"It isn't something that can wait forever," she said. "It is a time-sensitive procedure. Everything to do with fertility is quite time-sensitive, actually."

A long wait

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of two provinces in Canada without an IVF clinic, and has just one clinic dedicated to fertility services.

In January 2021, during the last provincial election campaign, the Liberal Party released a statement promising a Furey government would work "to increase access to fertility treatments and enable IVF services in the province."

According to that statement, part of that plan was to immediately review funding opportunities for residents to have to travel for IVF treatment.

By the beginning of August, that funding still hadn't appeared, butHaggie said it would be available within "weeks."

Last fall, Haggie told reporters the funding package was taking longer to put together than he had anticipated, but the Health Department was working on it with the Office of Women and Gender Equality.

The funding still hasn't come. Ina statement provided to CBC News on Friday, a spokesperson said the Department of Health is "committed" to working toward increased access to fertility services for people in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"We are working on a subsidization program that will be available to eligible individuals who travel outside the province to receive IVF treatments, and this is expected to be finalized in the coming months."

HelenConway Ottenheimer, the Progressive Conservatives' women and gender equality critic,said Tuesday the issue is an example of government inaction.

"Women are waiting to see what government is doing on that issue alone and again, there's no action," she said.

Time ticking for some

Vanessa Mayo, 31, said she has been trying to get pregnant for about seven years and has had nine failed intrauterine inseminations and numerous failed medicated cycles. She had her first consultation with the Halifax IVF clinic in May.

"Our only option right now would be IVF," she explained. "That's basically where we're at. We're looking at doing IVF this summer, hopefully, if we can get the funding."

Like Stultz, Mayo said she got her hopes up when the Liberals promised help during the campaign, but as time has worn on that hope has faded.

"It's very frustrating knowing that this funding could be available to us if the government would release it and would release more information," she said.

Mayo said she's been saving as much money as she can and is also considering taking out a loan. She hopes to save enough to go this summer with or without government funding.

"Time is not a luxury, and every year a person has to wait is reduced chance of becoming pregnant."

Mayo, who noted the province's population is declining and aging, said offering more support to families struggling with infertility would be one way for the province to slow that population decline.

"What better way to get the province to be booming again, and for new babies to be born in the province every year? Just give us the funding. Let us go for IVF," she said.

No mention of IVF in Health Accord

The Health Accord N.L. is a 266-page report touted as a comprehensive, decade-long transformation of the province's health-care system. Government officials, including Furey and Haggie, have said the report will inform future health-care decision-making.

Though the report addresses the province's aging population, it does not specifically address the lack of IVF treatment.

Ledon Wellon, a fertility services advocate who runs the Facebook page "Faces of Fertility," said she'd like to see more come in the implementation plan for the report, due later in March.

"One in six Canadian couples experience infertility, and if we want more children here, we need to help those one in six couples that are struggling," she said.

Wellon also called for more fertility services outside the St. John's area, and more attention given to diseases like endometriosis, which impairsfertility and affects about one in 10 women and girls.

Wellon saidshe'd ultimately like to see the government open a dedicated IVF clinic in the province.

"Having access within our own province, I think, would be the biggest change for Newfoundlanders," she said.

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