The world first 'test tube baby', Louise Brown, has expressed frustration about the way modern IVF treatments are often out of reach for many people on lower incomes. In interviews with media upon release of the film about the team who developed IVF, she said: "I know the three pioneers wanted it to be used by everybody who needed it, and it breaks my heart that not everybody who needs it can use it. Mum and Dad didn't have any money; they were normal working-class people, and I think that was one of the reasons Mum was chosen."
Louise Brown, the first person to be born via IVF supported the film and even visited the set to chat with the writers and director, all of whom have personal experiences with IVF.
The blue plaque inaugurated in 2015 to acknowledge Jean Purdy contributions in developing IVF together with Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards was actually unveiled by Andrew Steptoe of the Royal Society of Biology, Patrick Steptoe's son.
While Louise Brown's mum had IVF to fall pregnant, Louise herself had two children with husband Wesley Mullinder who were conceived without fertility treatment.
Purdy was a co-author on 26 papers with Steptoe and Edwards, and 370 IVF children were conceived during her career.