The Hamilton Spectator

FEBRUARY 16, 2010
JOANNA FRKETICH

> Read the full article online at TheSpec.com

Couple Join Rally for IVF Funding

‘Everyone Deserves to Have a Family’

It cost Andrea Stegne nearly $40,000 to have a baby.

The 32-year-old Burlington mom and her husband, Frank Stegne, remortgaged their house and used all of their inheritance on in vitro fertilization (IVF).

She says the high cost of fertility treatment made the already-devastating medical condition of male factor infertility indescribably stressful. It’s why she spent Family Day yesterday rallying at Queen’s Park for IVF to be covered by OHIP.

“Everyone deserves to have a family,” she said. “It shouldn’t be just because they can afford treatment.”

Local fertility specialists agree with Stegne and the group of about 1,100 infertile Ontario couples called Conceivable Dreams who organized yesterday’s rally.

> Read the full article online at TheSpec.com