Mommyish Poll: Would You Take Out A Loan To Fund Your IVF Cycles?

Anyone who has been through a few or so rounds of IVF knows that they certainly don’t come cheap. The ultimate costs of children are one thing, but round after round following no conception can leave many a family cash poor. So what happens when you want to expand your family, but you don’t quite have the financial resources to make it happen? Why, a banker in a suit walks right up to you and offers you some “fertility financing.”

Msnbc reports that “dozens of fertility finance companies are popping up around the country” with different interest rates. But mixing loans with the desperate want of a child — at least for some — can get really messy, really fast:

”When someone comes and says I can make this possible for you and I can make the financing possible, you really have to be a little bit careful because you’ve got vulnerable, desperate people who want to hear that there’s an answer to their prayers,” said Arthur Caplan, the head of the division of medical ethics at NYU’s Langone Medical Center.  ”I’m worried they’re not going to hear the failure and success rate, the interest rate, and what the risks are of the treatments.”

“Predatory” is another word used to describe what this business incentive could ultimately become. However, for those families who can accurately assess the risk and want to push ahead, shouldn’t they have the option?

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(photo: Philip Lange/ Shutterstock)