Are Black women being failed by IVF?

The shaky reality of IVF – from a painful postcode lottery dictating your ability to have treatment on the NHS to the challenges of going through treatment while working – is something that you’ll be deeply familiar with, if you’ve ever taken that path. New data, though, has revealed another injustice at play, when it comes to the fertility intervention. This spring, the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) revealed that there exist significant differences in the use and outcomes of fertility treatment over different ethnic groups. Though the average IVF birth rate per embryo transferred has increased across all groups, in 2020-21, Black patients between the ages of 18 and 37 had the lowest birth rates following the procedure, with Black patients aged 30-34 having an average birth rate of 23%, compared to 30% for mixed and white patients. (Disparities for Black patients are the most stark, notes the HFEA, but issues are at play for other ethnic groups. Asian patients, for example, struggle to access donor eggs which match their own ethnicity, if needed.) Black women and reproductive health What, then, could be going on? Dr Annabel Sowemimo, a sexual and reproductive health consultant and founder of the...