Study asks why women go abroad for fertility treatment (News Feature)

By Rachel Levy Jun 24, 2009, 13:21 GMT

Amsterdam - Despite advanced facilities at home, many Dutch women travel abroad for fertility treatments - a phenomena which is echoed right across Europe.

Why, when the Netherlands seemingly offers excellent treatments?

That question will be answered on Sunday June 28, when academics unveil the results of the first-ever international study into the issue at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Amsterdam.

'We know that women increasingly travel around the globe to seek the fertility treatment they want,' Dutch ESHRE-chairman Joep Geraedts tells the German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday.

The study was conducted among foreign women visiting fertility clinics in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland.

In 2004, for example, predominantly-Catholic Italy changed its fertility laws to outlaw the screening or freezing of pre-implanted embryos. Sperm and egg donation, surrogacy and embryo research are also now prohibited.

'These new Italian laws have resulted in an influx of Italian patients to Switzerland,' Geraedts says.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, he adds.

Rineke van Gaal, 37 and Anneke Sterk, 39, both travel abroad every month to undergo treatment. Van Gaal and her husband go to Brussels, 'to avoid the Dutch waiting list', Van Gaal says - which on average is one year.

Sterk, who is single, travels all the way to the US, 'because I wanted to choose my donor myself. In the Netherlands, the clinic makes the choice.'

Geraedts says there are many more reasons why women seek treatment abroad - not least the trend in the developed world for women to delay having children.

'Dutch patients for example are often not referred to specialists on time. Many women approach 40 when they do get referred, while Dutch clinics only provide fertility treatment for people up to 40. In the US, people are treated also at older ages.'

'Then there is a cost issue. Dutch insurers reimburse a maximum of three In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments, half of what is customary in Belgium.'

The enormous progress of fertility and embryology expertise since the birth of the first IVF-conceived baby in 1978 also has a downside, Geraedts says.

'Women postpone motherhood further and further. They rely increasingly on the idea fertility treatments can do the trick. This is not always the case, particularly among older women. Besides, all treatments have risks.'

With an average age of 30 at the birth of their first child, Dutch women are some of the oldest mothers in the world.

'Women should preferably have children in their early twenties,' Geraedts says. 'Biologically, this is the ideal age.'

Ultimately, Geraedts pleads for younger mothers to avoid expensive and emotionally-burdensome fertility treatments.