Listen Now: Misconception

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A few years ago, I started really freaking out. I
was in my mid thirties. The time on my biological
clock was quickly running out. So I set off to
figure out whether I should freeze my eggs. But along
the way I found more, a lot more.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Most people have no idea what happens in the lab
of a fertility clinic.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
The industry was built as a niche for high net
worth individuals.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I called it, like the cults have never give up.
I'm Bloomberg Health reporter Kristen V. Brown. My new series,
Misconception journeys to the core of an industry where some
of the most intimate, emotional and trying moments in life
collide with business. A world where the costs are high,
but the odds are sometimes low, Where miracles happen but

(00:46):
soda mistakes.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
It's all oh so terrifying.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, Misconception is available now. Subscribe to Prognosis on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.