"Discriminating Treatment"

We had a consultation at Care in 2015 and it took some courage to mention previous sexual abuse and concerns about it affecting ivf treatment as physical examinations can be difficult for me.

Instead of any support, I was treated as likely to be unfit as a mother, while my husband was treated as if he had no role to play in raising any children. The doctor raised huge doubts as to whether I should receive treatment, despite holding a full time job, having had counselling and otherwise doing well and demanded lots of psych evaluations etc in a brusque manner, presupposing that I'd be rejected. This really rocked my self confidence.

Luckily, we had the determination to try again elsewhere where I was treated with kindness and compassion with some small adjustments (such as internal scans being completed by female staff and lots of clear explanation ahead of time) put in place for me. It's actually taken quite a while to realise how outrageous, insensitive and inappropriate such behaviour was, but since then the responses of a number of health professionals have shown that this is an isolated example of prejudice. Responding to someone sharing such information by telling them they were likely to be an unfit parent is extraordinary and potentially very damaging.