The Voice host was told in no uncertain terms by her doctor that without using donor eggs her chance of falling pregnant through IVF at 49 was almost zero.
“He said no woman aged 45 or over had been successful in carrying a baby to term using her own eggs. It was my decision to proceed as I hoped with all my heart I might be able to beat the odds.”
When Sonia announced that she was pregnant, she was frank about how she’d been successful – a younger friend had donated an egg.
“I wanted to be very clear about the fact that I didn’t have a ‘miracle’ pregnancy,” she said last year.
But Sonia is one of the lucky ones – statistically and in terms of the information she received.
A new Four Corners investigation reveals that many hopeful mums are being left in the dark about their treatment and their chances of success.
In Australia, the number of women over 40 having fertility treatment has almost tripled in the last decade.
Unlike other OECD nations, Australia has no age limit on public subsidies for fertility treatment, which last year cost Medicare more than $250 million.
Four Corners obtained Australian data showing that for a woman over 40, using her own fresh eggs, the chance of taking home a live baby is slim to virtually none.
Fertility specialists have also told Four Corners there is a proliferation of “snake oil” treatments in the industry, which is self-regulating.
Professor Michael Chapman from the Fertility Society of Australia tells news.com.au that it’s women desperate for a baby, not unscrupulous clinics, who are driving the IVF treadmill.
“I have the same conversation every week with at least three patients aged 42 and over,” says Prof Chapman.
“I go through the stats about their reduced number of eggs and the odds of a pregnancy being less than one per cent. I say it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.
“Nine out of 10 times, those women will say ‘I want to give it a try’. They believe they’ll be that 1 per cent, and you cannot talk them out of it.
“I think it’s because in order to come to terms with their childlessness, they have to know that they’ve tried absolutely everything. They do it so they can say to themselves, ‘At least I tried. I did everything possible’.”
Other experts say the raft of stories about older celebrities falling pregnant is also fuelling demand.
Headlines such as ‘Yes, It Is Medically Possible For Janet Jackson To Be Pregnant At 49’ offer false hope, Channel Nine presenter and journalist Leila McKinnon, 43, also tells news.com.au.
She took five years to conceive via IVF with her husband, former Nine chief David Gyngell. She gave birth to her daughter Gwendolyn at age 41 and used her own eggs.
“The public does have unrealistic expectations because they hear the success stories about older women in Hollywood having babies. These women aren’t necessarily open about whether they used donors or not.”
“It’s important that these kinds of stories get out there so people can make realistic decisions about how hopeful to be and what to spend their money on,” she said.
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