‘Our son was eight years in the making’: 11 women on getting through the marathon of infertility

A growing number of Black women in the US are choosing IVF, surrogacy and other medical interventions to have children - and ending the silence around their difficulties conceiving

When Monique Farook finally let go of what had been her secret shame, her mother's response was fast and painfully plain: Infertility? What is that?"

Those were her exact words, recalled Farook, who spent six months trying to get pregnant, then almost four years trying to convince her husband that in vitro fertilization (IVF) or some other assisted reproductive technology was the way to go. After one failed intrauterine insemination (IUI), where sperm is injected into the uterus, and a successful round of IVF, where an embryo is implanted, Farook finally gave birth to her son, now six-year-old Omar.