Medical training in Canada is an intensive, prolonged process. Most physicians complete residency in their early to mid-thirties, and surgical specialists often extend well beyond that. This trajectory overlaps with the natural decline in fertility, particularly for women, and is compounded by the difficulties of training – long hours, sleep deprivation, and high emotional demands – which literature has shown to further negatively impact reproductive health. Surveys consistently show that the majority of female physicians’ delay or alter childbearing due to career pressures.

Fertility preservation methods, such as oocyte cryopreservation, provide an option to safeguard future reproductive potential. However, the cost – often $7,000–$10,000 per cycle plus ongoing storage fees – remains a major barrier, especially for medical students and residents burdened with significant debt and modest salaries. Currently, Ontario’s health insurance plan (OHIP) only publicly funds fertility preservation in limited medical contexts, leaving elective preservation for medical trainees unfunded.

This gap has equity implications: medicine now has a majority female student population, and lack of reproductive support risks perpetuating gender disparities, influencing specialty choices, and shaping the physician workforce of the future.