Ledon Wellon now spends her time chasing one-year-old Freya around a St. John’s playground, after years of chasing the dream of having children at all.
Wellon spent years trying to get pregnant. Her fertility journey included a trip to Calgary to do in-vitro fertilization, or IVF.
It can be a complicated process, and in her case was complicated even more by travel restrictions during the pandemic.
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of only two provinces that doesn’t offer IVF, and is fighting a battle against demographic decline.
Wellon’s story is far from unique. An estimated one in six couples experience infertility. About 100 people travel outside the province every year to avail of IVF.
“This is a super stressful, very emotional time for anyone who’s going through it. And then to be thrust into a new space with new doctors, not in your comfort zone — it just adds so much unnecessary stress,” Wellon said.
“We need it here. We need our doctors that we know and that we’ve been working with for, you know, four and five years before we do IVF. We want them to do it.”
Two fertility specialists in the province say they have been trying to do just that — offering IVF in Newfoundland and Labrador.
But they say the government has ignored them, even though the Liberals made that commitment as part of their last election platform.
“We will be working with stakeholders, including the obstetricians and gynecologists here, who firmly believe that a clinic here is possible,” Premier Andrew Furey said on the campaign trail in January 2021.
“We will work with them to establish it.”
These days, Dr. Sean Murphy and Dr. Deanna Murphy are mystified by that comment.
“I don’t know who they’ve been working with, but it hasn’t been with one of the three providers that are trained to provide IVF in the province,” Dr. Sean Murphy said.
The two doctors — no relation — have been pressing to perform the full range of fertility treatments, including IVF, locally since 2018.
“One in six couples have infertility,” Dr. Deanna Murphy said. “It’s a very big problem that people don’t realize because people don’t talk about it. They’re very private about it.”
Four years ago, they submitted a proposal that they say would not have introduced any types of new costs to the government.
“We didn’t get a clear-cut answer as to why our proposal wasn’t an acceptable proposal to the government,” Dr. Deanna Murphy said.
Dr. Sean Murphy sharply criticized the lack of progress.
“To promise an IVF clinic in our province — a promise that means so much to so many people — and to not move on that promise, which is basically moving away from that promise?” he said. “I mean, it’s unconscionable.”
RFP to assess fertility services options
In an interview, Health Minister Tom Osborne pointed toward an election commitment that the government has since followed through on — a $5,000 subsidy to help those who must leave the province to avail of IVF services.
According to health officials, 74 patients have been approved for that subsidy to date, at a total cost of approximately $400,000. The subsidy is retroactive to Aug. 4, 2021.
Osborne also noted that his department recently decided to issue a request for proposals to look at the overall issue of fertility services in the province.
“I will solidly engage with stakeholders in this province on this issue,” Osborne said.
But Osborne sidestepped questions about that 2021 election promise, and why it’s taken 21 months for the province to issue a request for proposals without any apparent action on IVF.
“I’ve looked at the requirements for increased fertility services in the province and we’re moving forward with that,” Osborne said.
And as for the cost of the proposal by the doctors, Osborne said he’s heard different things from different people, and hopes the RFP process will help provide clarity.
“Individuals within the department and the health authorities have a different view of whether or not it would have additional cost. That is part of the reason I’m asking, putting this RFP out, and doing a review of fertility services,” Osborne said.
“I understand the view that was put forward by [the doctors]. I understand the view that’s put forward by the department. And I need to make an informed decision.”
The RFP is expected to be issued within a week or two. Osborne said he can’t talk about any timelines for that process until after it’s released.
No new ‘cost streams’ to province, doctors say
Doctors Sean Murphy and Deanna Murphy indicated that they don’t have much to say about the RFP, because they haven’t been consulted and don’t know what is being asked.
They also noted that the RFP has come about after renewed media coverage, which they say raises concerns for them about the intentions of the government in undertaking it.
Here’s how they say their proposal, initially submitted in 2018, would have worked.
They wanted to transition some of their services currently covered by MCP, the province’s medical-care plan, out of the public system into a private clinic.
These services would remain covered by MCP.
They say that would allow them to expand their offerings in that private setting to offer IVF, which is not covered by MCP — with everything under one roof.
The doctors say there’s already an established model for that, in how cataract services are provided in the province.
And they stress that they would cover the expenses of setting up an IVF clinic here themselves.
“The proposal didn’t ask for new money or new cost streams to government,” Dr. Sean Murphy said.
“IVF would still be patient pay, just as it is in most other provinces. So we’re applying to basically do what other provinces already do.”
According to health officials, wait times for fertility services can range from six months up to three years for an initial assessment.
The doctors say their plan would shorten those wait lists.
They also say it would broaden the list of people who could benefit from services — treatments for gender-diverse people seeking fertility preservation, for example, or cancer patients too sick to travel to freeze their eggs.
‘Devastated’ to have to travel for IVF
Back at the playground in downtown St. John’s, Ledon Wellon says expanding the service would make a big difference.
“When it was first promised, I was excited but realistic,” she said.
“It’s been promised before here.”
Wellon has become an advocate for others with fertility challenges — people who continue to wait, and continue to face added cost and complications.
“People are devastated to have to do it,” she said. “It’s never a fun option to go.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador