Carrot was born from a belief that every person — regardless of age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, race, or geography — deserves access to culturally sensitive, inclusive, and high-quality fertility and family-building support. Today, we’re thrilled to share that we're expanding on that commitment by introducing Faith-Inclusive Fertility Care™, a first-of-its-kind feature that enables members of faith and religious communities to access care and treatment that considers their unique challenges, preferences, and needs.
Carrot’s Faith-Inclusive Fertility Care program includes a robust suite of features that doubles down on personalization for members, including matching members with high-quality, faith-inclusive providers and clinics that accommodate certain requests, such as compassionate transfers, adjustments to the timing of certain fertility protocols, and modifications to conventional IVF procedures that allow for faith leaders to be present. Members will also have high-quality educational resources and telehealth access to faith-inclusive care experts who not only have medical training but have also undergone extensive training in faith and cultural issues associated with fertility and family-building care. This program will be live and available globally to members across 170 countries starting in January 2025.
Faith and Fertility Report
A new report from Carrot demonstrates the need for Faith-Inclusive Fertility Care. Carrot conducted a September 2024 survey of 400 U.S respondents across diverse geographies as well as age, sex, sexual orientation, and gender that revealed 84% of people have a faith or spiritual background and 31% are active attendees of organized faith. All respondents have gone through fertility treatments at some point in the last five years. Key findings of Carrot’s inaugural Faith and Fertility Report include the following.
Faith is a critical consideration for people on fertility journeys.
More than half (51%) of people with faith backgrounds say their faith impacts their healthcare decisions. When it comes to fertility and family-building healthcare decisions, 33% of respondents with a faith background shared that faith is a central guiding factor in how they select treatment options and make other choices. For people who are actively involved in their faith, these numbers grow. The majority of these respondents (75%) say their faith has some level of impact on their healthcare decisions, and more than half (53%) say their faith specifically guides fertility and family-building healthcare decisions.
Fertility patients want more faith-inclusive healthcare providers.
One in three (34%) respondents with a faith background say their faith impacted their choice of a healthcare provider. And 30% wished their fertility healthcare experience had been more inclusive of their faith. For those with an active faith practice, this number increases to nearly half of all respondents (47%).
Faith directly impacts treatment decisions.
Forty-two percent of respondents with a faith background say their faith ultimately impacted their treatment in at least one way. More than half (52%) of respondents with a faith background considered alternatives or modified approaches to conventional IVF or IUI procedures because of their faith, and one in seven (15%) tried or plan to try other treatment options first. Among the respondents who tried modified or alternative treatments due to their faith, the most common is timed intercourse based on guidance from a healthcare provider, reported by 58%.
Excess embryos are an especially important healthcare issue for people of faith.
Forty-two percent of respondents shared that the handling of excess embryos as part of IVF treatment was a concern with freezing these embryos. Among applicable respondents, 38% selected donation to other individuals or couples as their preferred path. Those with an active faith practice are even more likely to donate to other individuals (44%) and less likely to donate to science (19%) or dispose of embryos (13%).
Interested in learning more about the benefits of offering faith-inclusive care to your employees? Read our full report and contact our team today.
