From Miscarriage and Ectopic Pregnancy to IVF: Why Some Couples Need IVF

Not everyone plans for IVF. For some couples, the road there starts with pregnancy loss. A miscarriage, then an ectopic pregnancy, and sometimes surgery that changes what's possible next.

At a glance

• Anectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg implants outside the womb, usually in a fallopian tube. It affects about 1 in 90 pregnancies. Sadly, it can't continue, and treatment sometimes means removing the affected tube.¹
• Most people can still get pregnant after an ectopic pregnancy, even with one tube removed, though IVF is sometimes needed.¹
• In IVF, eggs are fertilised with sperm in a lab and the embryo is placed directly into the womb.² Because the egg doesn't have to travel through a tube to meet the sperm, IVF can be an option even when both tubes have been removed.
• Most miscarriages happen early and are often linked to the pregnancy not developing properly. They're not caused by anything you did.³

Good to know

An ectopic pregnancy can still happen after IVF, so tell your clinic early if you're pregnant. They can arrange early scans.^1,2

How We Got Here: Our Road to IVF

▶ Watch: Henry and Precious share how one miscarriage and two ectopic pregnancies led to Precious losing both fallopian tubes, and how that brought them to IVF.

Sources & Further Reading

[1] NHS. Ectopic pregnancy. Read the NHS ectopic pregnancy page Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ↩

[2] NHS. IVF. Read the NHS IVF page Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ↩

[3] MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine. Miscarriage. Read the MedlinePlus miscarriage page Licence: US federal government work, public domain. Courtesy of MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine. ↩