ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Liberal party announced Thursday it will open an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in Newfoundland and Labrador if elected, but a local advocate for fertility services says she’ll believe it when she sees it.
“Our government listens, and over several months we have heard the concerns of families hoping to bring a child into their communities as well as doctors looking at ways to offer IVF services,” Liberal Leader Andrew Furey said in a news release.
The party said low fertility rates, along with an aging population and outmigration, have caused a demographic crisis in the province. Newfoundland and Labrador needs more young people, and a Liberal government will encourage families to grow here through a number of different avenues, Furey said.
Our province has a demographic crisis, which we need to address from all sides. IVF treatment is helping families, and...
Posted by Andrew Furey on Thursday, January 28, 2021
In the immediate term, the Liberals said they’ll review funding opportunities to help ease the financial burden for eligible Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who must travel to out-of-province fertility clinics for treatment.
“Our government will also seek opportunities for associated prescribed medications to become more affordable as the federal government works toward a national, universal pharmacare program,” the news release stated.
Wait and see
Mount Pearl resident Ledon Wellon says she’s not going to hold her breath yet.
“It’s exciting to hear, but there’ve been promises before, so I can’t get too excited without actually seeing anything start to happen,” Wellon said in an interview.
“Funding is really helpful, but ultimately we would love to have a clinic here so we could have access just like the rest of Canada,” she said.
Wellon, who started a Facebook page last year called Faces of Fertility, has been trying various fertility treatments for the past six years. In March 2020, she travelled to Calgary for an IVF procedure, but the pandemic intervened and she hasn’t been able to return for followup.
Her frozen embryos are being held in storage.
“If they were here, I would have already been able to try again,” she said. “But since they’re in Calgary, I’d need to take almost a month off, between getting up there, having the procedure done and then having the two weeks of quarantine now. Where, if we had access to a clinic here, I could literally run over for half an hour and come back.”
This is a public address to the politicians of Newfoundland and Labrador. I want you to know that this province is...
Posted by Faces of Fertility on Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Progressive Conservative Leader Ches Crosbie said Thursday he supports the idea of a local clinic.
“It deserves to be supported,” he told reporters. “As you know, we have a declining population, the only province in the country that has that. So, anything like IVF that helps create new residents of people that have families and help with the population is an issue I would be in favour of.”
NDP Leader Allison Coffin, meanwhile, noted the Liberal government has been reluctant until now to fund the service.
“We do need better access to these fertility clinics, but what I have heard from the minister of Health was that the costs are prohibitive,” she said.
“And I do believe that the minister had said that they're concentrated in Toronto for a particular reason, so I would argue that, maybe if it's not economically feasible to have the services here, then we need to make it very accessible, much like a (travel assistance) program of getting the folks who are here to those services that will help them have children,” she added.
“It breaks my heart. We have a population decline. We want people to have babies here. Let's make it easier for them to do that.”
With files from Andrew Waterman and Nicholas Mercer.
Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering health for The Telegram. @pjackson_nl
