The Decibel Navigating Canada's fertility industry
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Apr 6, 2026 Catherine Blaisbaum, investigative journalist and author who chronicled her own infertility journey, talks about navigating Canada’s booming fertility industry. She discusses rising infertility rates, the costs and emotional toll of IVF and surrogacy, provincial funding gaps, clinic transparency, and the surprising realities of matched surrogates and births.
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Mausoleum Of Sonograms
- Catherine Blaisbaum kept a hidden beige linen box of sonogram images representing four miscarriages during her second-child journey.
- She described it as a tangible mausoleum of losses that tracked the emotional toll of repeated pregnancy loss.
Brutal Reality Of IVF Procedures
- Catherine endured five egg retrievals, multiple embryo transfers, surgeries, fainting and significant post-retrieval complications including 11 stitches in her face.
- She emphasized the physical toll contradicted clinic reassurances like "you can go to work the next day."
Partial Funding Creates False Security
- No province fully covers fertility treatments; Ontario funds one IVF cycle per lifetime for eligible patients but excludes medications, genetic testing and freezing.
- Funded cycles often have months-long wait lists that harm time-sensitive fertility chances.
