Q&A: Actress Kellee Stewart on advocating for fertility advantages

Fertility and household constructing firm Progyny and social planning web site for invites Evite held an occasion in Los Angeles on Wednesday with panelists discussing IVF choices, together with affected person advocacy group for household constructing RESOLVE, the primary IVF child born within the U.S. Elizabeth Carr, Progyny’s chief medical officer Rebecca Flick, and actress and fertility advocate Kellee Stewart. 

Publicly traded Progyny presents advantages packages specializing in household constructing, fertility and girls’s reproductive well being, together with IVF, adoption, IUI and surrogacy.

Stewart sat down with Our blogNews on the occasion to debate her involvement with Progyny and Evite in addition to her advocacy work for fertility and family-building advantages.

Our blogNews: Why did you determine to become involved with Progyny?

Kellee Stewart: Progyny really invited me to flip the sunshine swap on the Empire State Constructing orange for the primary time for Nationwide Infertility Consciousness Week. And they also got here to me, and I used to be like, “Hiya, I have been on the lookout for you, and I am gonna meet you at, like, the most important constructing on this planet, you realize, the highest of the world!” So, it was monumental for me and from that time on, we simply stayed in relationship with one another.  

I am an award-winning fertility advocate because of RESOLVE, which began that pattern. However after I froze my eggs after I was 37 years outdated, I threw myself an egg bathe. And there are not any showers for folks going by IVF or adoption or surrogacy or egg freezing, and I believed to myself, ‘How do I assist normalize the dialog about infertility and completely different paths to parenthood?’  

So, I used to be on the Sherri Shepherd present speaking about my egg bathe, and I put it on the market that there are not any egg bathe invites on Evite. They heard it. Then Evite reached out to me and mentioned, “We wish to allow you to change this.” So, we partnered and created Parenthood Journey.  

Parenthood Journey is a brand new class of invites on evite.com that has IVF showers, surrogacy showers, adoption showers, my very personal egg bathe invitation that I designed and in addition rainbow child showers. It’s a separate class from child showers as a result of we wish to create that area the place people who find themselves nonetheless on the trail really feel seen with out being triggered and know that there is help and that there are thousands and thousands of us which might be nonetheless looking for our means. So, after I partnered with Evite, I launched Evite to Progyny and RESOLVE, and now we’re right here having our first fertility bathe.

MHN: What do you hope attendees get out of the bathe?

Stewart: I hope that they’ll perceive entry to care and be capable to unfold the phrase. We hope that they’ll proceed to share their tales to make consciousness the pinpoint as a result of folks undergo in silence a lot, however after they hear a narrative that sounds much like theirs or somebody getting over a hump, and it is like, oh, I am not the one one. It empowers them to proceed their journey or to make decisions.  

And I hope with abortion on the poll, with issues which have occurred in Alabama and all of these issues that we will proceed to make our voices and our rights heard. As we see issues being overturned and going again 50+ years, if we do not proceed to do occasions like this and communicate up and mobilize collectively and shake fingers with different folks which might be going by the journey, then we cannot be capable to create the change that we search and that we deserve.  

And one of many issues I actually wished to do was to name my buddy Elizabeth Carr. Elizabeth is the primary IVF child born within the U.S., and I referred to as her and requested her to be on the bathe and he or she’s proper over there, and he or she’s gonna be on the panel. So, she’s actually historical past, though I name her “herstory,” and he or she represents, her dad and mom characterize, and her start represents hope for all of us. So, 41 years in the past somebody went by an experimental trial and out got here some of the wonderful folks I’ve ever identified. So right here we’re combating for these rights once more to stick with us.

MHN: What would you want Our blogNews’ readers to know concerning the motion for IVF?

Stewart: Know that there are insurance coverage carriers for infertility. If it is not being lined by whoever you are employed by, go to HR and ask them why. As a result of it is out there. And that is the factor, generally we ask the query, “Hey, do you may have infertility insurance coverage?” “No.” After which we cease the dialog there. “Why not?”  

So what I hope folks get out of this, for Progyny particularly, is that you just proceed to poke that bear of “Nicely then, why not?” And if you happen to’re not getting a solution that speaks into the journey of parenthood that you’ve, it is advisable hold combating for it proper there the place you’re employed. We need not cease it at no. 

I hope folks get that out of this occasion as nicely–actionable ways in which they will empower themselves inside their group, inside their employers, inside their neighborhood, inside their households even. , being triggered, being requested, “When’s the child gonna come?” Generally we’ve to say, “Nicely, you realize, none of what you are promoting. I am engaged on it.” However Progyny is a good insurance coverage service, and it is out there and extra firms have to faucet proper on in.