News & Blog

Minnesota experiencing an IVF baby boom even as overall births decline

Published by StarTribune. Read the full article.

The pandemic didn’t slow infertility treatments in Minnesota.

Brigette Kerber wanted to try for a second child through in-vitro fertilization in 2020, but she was worried because COVID-19 was taking a harsh toll on pregnant women.

The Edina woman hesitated even after her fertility clinic reopened that summer following a two-month statewide pandemic shutdown. But time wasn’t on her side.

“‘This isn’t going away,'” she recalled thinking about the pandemic. “We couldn’t wait forever.”

Kerber restarted IVF that fall and gave birth in March 2021 to her second daughter, Elsie. Turns out, she wasn’t alone in her decision-making regarding IVF — the combining of eggs and sperm in a culture dish to form embryos that are transferred into women struggling to get pregnant.

Continue reading here.