A plan for universal access to fertility care

In the 66 years since the introduction of clomiphene citrate, the 64 years since the first pregnancy using menotrophin stimulation and the 48 years since the birth of the first baby conceived through IVF, the procedures that have been developed to help millions of families to overcome infertility have become increasingly safe and effective. Our ability to provide access to the much larger population of underserved and unserved has, however, lagged far behind. As declining fertility rates bring renewed attention to access to fertility care, the challenge for reproductive medicine is to leverage the progress made in developing safe and effective treatment and make it universally available to those patients in need. This requires a strategy to address both cost of care and treatment capacity constraints, challenges made less daunting due to recent innovation and technology.