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After struggling for eight years to have a baby, Shannon Petersen and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2022. Their fertility doctor recommended a test that sounded like exactly what they needed. It promised to help Petersen, then 42, avoid miscarriages and get pregnant faster by determining which of the couple’s embryos were most likely to result in a healthy baby. The testing cost thousands of dollars and wasn’t covered by insurance, but it was advertised as close to 100% accurate and strongly recommended for women of Petersen’s age. “I said, ‘Yeah, that sounds amazing,’” she says. “Who wouldn’t?”
Her mood changed when the results came back. The test deemed each of the Petersens’ five embryos abnormal, meaning their clinic—like many in the industry—refused to use any of them. “It was like, ‘Well, better luck next time. These are garbage, essentially,’” Petersen says. “It was heartbreaking.”
The Petersens took out a $15,000 loan to try again. Their second IVF cycle yielded only one embryo, which they decided not to test; it did not result in a...
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