Amsterdam (dpa) - 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.
Copyright 2009 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH