Sarah McBride says fertility treatment would have been easier if she could access Medicare rebates from the start. (Supplied)
In her mid-30s and single, Sarah McBride was determined to not miss out on motherhood.
With her "biological clock ticking", Sarah decided to try to conceive using donor sperm through a fertility clinic.
But classed as "socially infertile" rather than medically infertile, she was ineligible for a Medicare rebate.
"I felt like it was just so unfair and unjust," says the 41-year-old mum-of-two from Mooroolbark, Victoria.
"Because I'm choosing not to settle for someone just because time is running out, I have to jump through these extra hoops to become a family."
Sarah had to complete two rounds of intrauterine insemination (IUI) at full cost before she could move on to subsidised in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Last week, the federal health department accepted an expanded definition of infertility that would allow LGBTIQ+ couples and single people like Sarah to be able to access Medicare rebates for assisted reproductive technology, including IUI and IVF.
Previously rebates were generally only available once a medical cause of infertility was diagnosed.
The Medicare eligibility expansion came into effect immediately on acceptance of the new definition, according to Manuela Toledo, board member with the Fertility Society of Australian and New Zealand.
"The clinics are applying for the rebate on behalf of the patients," Dr Toledo says.
We spoke to Sarah about the changes, and what they would have meant to her when trying to conceive as a solo mum by choice.
These are her words.
I had to grieve the dream of happily ever after
I was 32 when I started thinking about doing motherhood alone.The biological clock was ticking. I knew at 35, that's when things started to drop off [fertility wise].
I worked in child care since I was 16. I had to be a mum.
But first I had to grieve the dream of happily ever after.
However, the thought of having a child for the rest of my life, that was just so exciting.
Once I had seen a fertility specialist and got a list of all the fees and rebates, I saw there was a big cross through the IUI rebate because I wasn't eligible as someone classed as 'socially infertile'.
I have a friend who went through IVF with donor sperm with her husband, and they could go straight to IVF with rebates because they were a straight couple who had been deemed medically infertile.
I had to do two unsuccessful rounds of IUI before I could get Medicare, and that was going to cost $6,000, plus the medications.
It felt like I didn't have autonomy over my body
Any debt linked to fertility treatment can be a painful reminder for childless people that life didn't go as they planned. And it's often not just financial debt they are left with, either.There were definitely tears cried.
Knowing that I had to jump through the extra hoops before I had autonomy; before I could make decisions about my body.
I also knew I wanted more than one child, and having two successful IUIs is very uncommon.
I was told IUI has about a 12 per cent success rate with my age and medical history. Whereas IVF at my age it was closer to 50 per cent, and I was shut off from that.
if I could have gone straight to IVF and created five embryos, for example, then I could have just done another embryo transfer after my daughter was born.
It would have been less procedures, less time, and less emotional turmoil.
Doing IUI and IVF was so all-consuming; financially, emotionally, physically. I had no life apart from working and treatment.
And the options of donors that really caught me by surprise.
For donors to donate to IUI, they have to be a certain quality of sperm, and there were not a lot of donors on that list.
If I had been able to go to IVF, I would have had more to choose from.
My IVF experience
I did the two IUIs, followed by two egg collections.My daughter was my second embryo transfer.
After that I did try for a second on my own. And my final embryo from that round was a missed miscarriage [a pregnancy loss in which the embryo or fetus has died or stopped developing, but your body hasn't recognised the loss].
I did another cycle, and I got two embryos. I had them genetically tested to avoid another missed miscarriage, but unfortunately neither resulted in pregnancy.
A huge win for solo mums
I'm so happy and so excited for women moving forward.I'm a little bit jealous, too. I wish I could have gone straight to IVF. I wish I could have chosen the right donor from the start, and not tried with a donor that wasn't my first preference.
I feel like it's such a huge win for solo mums, and for same-sex couples.
There is obviously more to be done around egg donors and surrogacy, but I think this is a huge win for our community.
Sarah is a member of the Australian Solo Mothers by Choice ASMBC Facebook group, where she acts as an ART and donor advocate.
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