Older women and the challenge of IVF

Over the past five decades, it’s estimated that around 13 million babies have been conceived thanks to IVF.

The fertility treatment has helped families around the world have children. But new research suggests that older women face a significantly lower chance of conceiving, even when donor eggs are used from a younger woman. This challenges the idea that donor eggs can “reset” an individual’s reproductive clock.

In our conversations, we bring together three women to share their experiences of the physical challenges and heartbreak of unsuccessful IVF treatment.

Dee remembers a sense of isolation, “You’re surrounded by lots of people, family and friends. But there can also be a very lonely journey because a lot of people don’t know what to do or say or how to support.”

Lana experienced not just sadness, but guilt for other people in her life, “There's this feeling that I carried for a long time that I let my husband down, like because of me he couldn't become a dad… My in-laws, I was their hope for being grandparents.”

We also hear from doctors on evolving attitudes to IVF treatment and the options available to fertility patients in their countries.

(Photo: Lana Manikowski, author of So Now What? Create a Life You Love Without the Children You Always Dreamed Of. She has long brown hair with middle parting and stands smiling at the camera. She wears a short sleeved, green top and gold earrings. Credit: Eric Kleinberg)

Presenter: James Reynolds
BBC producers: Iqra Farooq and Ben Davis
Boffin Media producer: Anne McNaught
Editors: Arja Haikonen and Harriet Oliver
A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC World Service Outside Source team.