A local non-profit is collecting feedback from residents across the province to help Albertans overcome financial barriers to fertility care and pursue their hopes of building a family.
Fertility Alberta Advocacy & Outreach Association aims to increase access and ease the financial burden for local parents. The patient-led organization is conducting a brief survey asking all Albertans to share their thoughts on supporting growing families.
Airdrie resident Trista Harrison went through three rounds of invitro fertilization (IVF) and spent $75,000 to try and avoid her child having a potentially life-threatening condition.
Harrison and her husband made the tough decision to go through fertility treatments in 2019. After a delay due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the couple did three rounds of IVF starting in 2021.
IVF costs roughly $20,000 each round for treatment (including medications) and genetic testing adds additional cost.
“For three years, we lived saving money,” says Harrison, who sits on the board of Fertility Alberta.
“We didn’t take any big trips; we didn’t make any big purchases in the interest of saving money. It was a huge financial toll in allocating funds, setting up savings accounts, and being mindful of our money and how we spent it.”
Harrison hoped to get some support from her employer and although the company has a fertility benefits plan, it is based on a limited lifetime amount.
“Once it is spent, you don’t get it anymore,” she says.
“I was given $4,000 as a part of my fertility benefits and that was spent about the second I walked in the door of the fertility clinic.”
A recent research initiative by Fertility Alberta and Mount Royal University found that 21 percent of respondents said their employer offered fertility benefits of any kind and only six percent of those covered treatment.
Unfortunately, the three rounds of IVF did not result in a pregnancy for Harrison. She adds that the financial struggle is not the only challenging part of the fertility journey.
“We went through three years of difficult discussions, and our life was focused on appointments, injections, ultrasounds, results… It was really hard on our relationship to the point where we were like, ‘Why are we doing this?’”
She adds that the toll on her mental health during her fertility journey was enormous.
“I struggled a lot and it put some big stressors in our lives. When you are completely focused on trying to have a baby and build your family, it is a big weight that you carry around every day.”
Years after starting treatment, Harrison got pregnant naturally and her daughter was born in May 2023. Since then, she has talked to hundreds of Albertans who have undergone or are currently going through fertility care.
Fertility Alberta is conducting the Your Voice on Fertility Care in Alberta Survey to better understand Albertans’ support for expanded access to fertility services across the province.
The information collected will help demonstrate the level of public support for a provincial fertility program, identify gaps in existing employer-sponsored coverage, and provide insight into the Albertans and families who could benefit from improved access to affordable fertility care. You do not need to have undergone fertility care to take part.
Take the two-minute survey at fertilityab.com.
Editor’s Note: Stacie Gaetz is a founding member of the Fertility Alberta board of directors.
