Last week, front page news in the New York Times focused on the U.S. fertility rate. While the U.S. fertility rate is down, the article reported, more women are mothers. Several factors contribute to this remarkable if somewhat alarming news and from our perspective some of this news is positive. While younger women of childbearing age are delaying having children, resulting in a low overall fertility rate, the rise of women having children after the age of 40 is rising.
Other groups of women such as those with advanced degrees and single women who have never married are also becoming mothers, electing to have children after or while pursuing their degrees or choosing single parenthood. In addition to new policies such as family paid leave and more attention to work life balance which ease the way for women in these categories to both have and raise children, new advances in reproductive health also contribute to the rise in motherhood. While egg freezing, IVF and other infertility treatments help women over 40 to conceive, Hanabusa IVF’s unique mini IVF treatment is particularly suited to patients of advanced maternal age.
This approach may in fact be more successful than conventional IVF which requires high doses of medication. Hanabusa IVF patients over 40 actually have a higher success rate with mini IVF, an approach to IVF that minimizes needles and medicine and keeps costs down.
To learn more about the factors allowing more women to be mothers in the U.S., you can read the full article here. And as always you can learn more about our mini IVF approach here.