It’s been a long time since I first went public with my fertility journey. As newlyweds, my husband and I struggled for three years to get pregnant. After two miscarriages and three failed IVF rounds, I was devastated. Back then, I kept our match a secret. I still felt the stigma and silence surrounding infertility. With no idea how many other people were going through it, I felt extremely alone.
In 2005 IVF finally worked and my twins were born. Thirteen months later, an even bigger shock: I was pregnant with my third child — of course. Filled with gratitude, I started a peer support group through RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. I vowed to do what I could to help other people with infertility feel less alone.
More than 15 years later, I am so relieved that these days much of that stigma is gone. With celebrities like Michelle Obama, Amy Schumer, Gabrielle Union, Brooke Shields and others sharing their stories, it seems the shame of infertility is slowly disappearing. Additionally, American women are giving birth later in life, and LGBTQ+ couples and singles are raising families at unprecedented rates. It’s no surprise then that the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has doubled in the past decade, according to the CDC. There is no doubt that the field of fertility has been the wonder drug for so many people, myself included.
But it was also the source of occasional horror stories and tragic mistakes. Now, as the multi-billion dollar fertility industry booms, there are people calling for more oversight, regulation and legislation.
In our reporting for the documentary “CNN Special Report: The Baby Business,” we spoke to remarkable people with amazing stories: children conceived by donors looking for siblings, an egg donor with 27 known genetic children, and families devastated by it what they claim is the lack of industry oversight.
Laura and David Gunner are a couple from upstate New York. In 2020, they lost their 27-year-old son Steven to a fatal opioid overdose after a long battle with schizophrenia and mental health issues. More than a year after his death, they discovered details about the anonymous sperm donor they had used in the 1990s. The tragic details of the donor’s life were eerily similar to their son’s. This sperm donor was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was in a mental institution before donating sperm. He died of an opioid overdose at the age of 46. Discovering these details about their donor was shocking. Equally shocking was that the medical history they had scrutinized for the donor was fabricated. But what they learned about the industry was even more startling: sperm banks are not required to verify self-reported medical information from donors. The Gunners decided to take action. Now, they are pushing for the passage of “Steven’s Law” at the federal level and the “Donor Arrested Persons Protection Act” in New York State.
Critics of such legislation, such as Dr. Jaime Shamonki, chief medical officer of California Cryobank, says the new laws and regulations will likely increase costs for an already exorbitant procedure, deter potential donors and limit access to fertility drugs overall. “You may inadvertently increase the cost of producing a vial of sperm. Or it may even put some of the smaller sperm banks out of business, which, given the fact that we currently have a shortage of sperm donors in the U.S., I think is really bad for the families,” says Shamonki. We also look at the biggest growth area of ​​the fertility industry: optional egg freezing. Every year, more and more women in their 20s and 30s freeze their eggs in hopes of protecting their future fertility until they are ready to start a family. We introduce prolific egg donor and surrogate Tyra Reeder, who has shared her own extraordinary fertility with many families across the country. By Tyra’s count, she’s had 14 egg retrieval cycles over seven years with clinics across the country, resulting in hundreds of egg donations. As a gestational surrogate, she has given birth to three children over the age of six. Reeder shared her own insider and unique perspective on how to improve the reproductive industry. She would like to see more about the long-term health implications for egg donors and surrogates. To be clear, there are strict rules for accurately reporting success rates from fertility clinics to the CDC. And the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), a professional fertility organization whose members include scientists and doctors, has its own guidelines for surrogacy, sperm and egg donation. But almost everyone we spoke to emphasized that these are just suggested guidelines, not enforceable rules or regulations. Many advocates for change have stated that it is time for our laws and ethics to catch up with our vast technological advances. I want other families to experience the life-changing benefits of fertility treatments like I did, without any of the unnecessary heartbreak. When I started reporting for this documentary, I had no agenda other than to highlight the rapidly changing landscape for patients in recent years. I also wanted to shed some light on some of the darker corners of the fertility industry — places where the consumer experience could be improved. What I learned is that the exponential growth of this complex industry carries some real risks. Our laws and regulatory oversight haven’t had a chance to catch up with technology. If nothing changes, the ethical challenges will only become greater. With reporting by CNN Documentary Producer A. Chris Gajilan.