{"id":44181,"date":"2021-03-06T14:49:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-06T19:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=44181"},"modified":"2021-03-08T13:14:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T18:14:22","slug":"ivf-and-trying-to-conceive-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/ivf-and-trying-to-conceive-during-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"IVF accessibility and trying to conceive during a pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jess Goldson<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Marjorie Dixon, a gynecologist and fertility specialist at\u00a0Anova Fertility<\/span><\/a>, talks about the state of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) funding in Canada and the impact that the pandemic had over the last year on accessibility. With input from D2Law LLP<\/span><\/a> Fertility Law\u2019s Sara Cohen, the organization analyzes the effect that COVID-19 has had on those seeking IVF treatments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe issues around the pandemic and fertility are really how to provide care safely to patients. And that was one of the first kind of conundrums we had to deal with and then how we had to manage it was in concert with public health guidelines [\u2026] We felt that women\u2019s health was essential, and an essential service so shouldn\u2019t be interrupted,\u201d said Dixon on advocating for fertility treatments to continue without interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Cohen, the pandemic has not decreased the amount of people seeking fertility treatments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere still has been quite a bit of family building going on. I think, you know, especially because time constraints, time really matters when it comes to fertility. So, people aren\u2019t really waiting,\u201d Cohen says.<\/span><\/p>\n

The real issue lies in in-vitro fertilization\u2019s inaccessibility outside of the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest barriers for fertility patients accessing care is cost. Cost is one. And the emotional rollercoaster is off putting so much that people will stop care. So those are the two big barriers to accessing care,\u201d Dixon explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

She advocates for change so that marginalized populations may also be able to build their families. One of the ways this can be accomplished is by creating an economic parameter that would include people who cannot afford the treatments. Another solution is to get rid of the wait list that publicly funded programs involve. As Cohen pointed out, fertility has time constraints.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dixon states that a way to overcome these inequalities is for patients to advocate for themselves as dedicated employees to their employers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou say that families are important to you and to your workforce. If you want to retain these talents, you should consider adding this [IVF] to the portfolio of benefits,\u201d she urges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dixon works in collaboration with Conceivable Dreams and Fertility Matters Canada, patient advocacy groups, to lobby for fertility support through benefit packages for employees. She continues to advocate for improvements and additional funding for the many Canadians who require fertility treatments.<\/span><\/p>\n

To hear more, listen to the CJRU interview below. This story is the first in a four-part series centered on women\u2019s reproductive health and family planning:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jess Goldson Dr. Marjorie Dixon, a gynecologist and fertility specialist at\u00a0Anova Fertility, talks about the state of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) funding in Canada and the impact that the pandemic had over the last year on accessibility. With input from D2Law LLP Fertility Law\u2019s Sara Cohen, the organization analyzes the effect that COVID-19 has had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":44183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[218,223,3265],"tags":[6898,6896,6897,6895,6894],"radio":[1380],"origine":[267,269,273],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44181"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=44181"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=44181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}