Australia’s first IVF baby launches fertility campaign

Australia’s first IVF baby launches fertility campaign
Image: Candice Thum (left) and Rebecca Featherstone Jelen (right) meet in Sydney to launch the Fertility Matters campaign.

BY KENJI SATO

Australia’s first IVF baby, Candice Thum, now 35, has teamed up with fellow IVFling, Rebecca Featherstone Jelen, 32, to launch the ‘Fertility Matters’ campaign.

The campaign was officially launched in Circular Quay over the weekend, and it aims to raise awareness and understanding surrounding the issues of fertility and reproductive health.

Mrs Featherstone Jelen said the campaign was about reaching out to the general public to inform them about their own reproductive health.

“We were quite shocked about how women our age don’t seem to know much about fertility,” said Mrs Featherstone Jelen.

Mrs Featherstone Jelen told City Hub that the Australian education system was “letting kids down” in informing children about fertility, and said the modern-day curriculum should reflect the modern-day Australian family.

“Nowadays, there are so many families with kids brought up in different ways,” she said.

“They could be adopted, they could have two fathers, they could be IVF. There are so many children now, one in every classroom, who is born though a fertility treatment. It’s becoming so common. It should be common knowledge, we think.”

The campaign was launched alongside a survey that challenges people to test their knowledge of fertility matters.

Mrs Thum said she hoped the survey will reveal to participants the extent of their knowledge, or lack thereof, about fertility.

“From the results we’ll be able to identify where the gaps in knowledge are and from that we’ll be making recommendations on resources that could be created and making presentations to schools and politicians,” Mrs Thum said.

She also said that the survey was not only about filling in knowledge gaps, but also about debunking the “silly” myths around the issue.

“People think infertility is something that only females have to worry about, but that’s not true,” she said.

In reality, it’s split down the middle. Mrs Thum indicated that in 40 per cent of infertility cases, the problem lies with the male.

Another myth that Mrs Thum and Mrs Featherstone Jelen wanted to dispel is the idea that infertility is hereditary. They are both proud mothers, and they both conceived naturally.

Mrs Featherstone Jelen said that by raising awareness about fertility health, the duo hoped to reduce the need for IVF.

“As wonderful as this technology is — because it has created so many lives and Candice and I wouldn’t be here without it — maybe you don’t want to go down that road if you can prevent it by knowing more about your fertility and health,” she said.

“A female’s fertility health is at its peak in her twenties. I had my kids in my early thirties and I was pushing it and I knew it. We just want people to be informed that there are things you can do to increase your chances of becoming pregnant.”

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