Boutique startups give fertility treatments a ‘luxury’ makeover

[There’s a] growing world of boutique egg-freezing operations Instagrammable enough for their majority-millennial clientele. Take Trellis, a “women’s fertility studio,” with a flagship location in New York City and a plan to roll out nationally this year. Vogue describes Trellis as combining the convenience of concierge medicine with selfie-worthy Richard Serra-esque architecture and inspirational Michele Obama quotes. Or newest-comer Ovally, which whisks groups of young women away to Spain for egg-freezing operations that cost up to 75 percent less than in the US, with 100 percent more Mediterranean beach holiday vibes.

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Crystal-clear pricing plans, curated glossy content, coaches available at your every beck and call: These services are lending a new psychological sheen to the often stigmatized challenges of infertility. They sell pregnancy as a luxury good—empowerment, not anxiety. But throwing a warm gauzy filter over a clinical experience doesn’t change the fact that fertility treatments are medical procedures.

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“Creating greater access for people who have not had it historically and creating a friendlier, more emotionally aware support system for people going through the emotionally fraught process of fertility treatments is generally a really good thing,” says [sociologist] Karen Levy.

Read full, original post: Fertility Treatment Gets Less Clinical, More ‘Grammable