TORONTO - About 60 would-be parents rallied outside the Ontario legislature Monday to mark the province's second annual Family Day by requesting government funding for in vitro fertilization treatments, which cost about $10,000 per cycle.

The rally was organized by Conceivable Dreams, which represents 1,100 couples who cannot conceive without medical assistance. The problem affects one in six Ontario couples, the group says, but still carries a stigma that leaves many uncomfortable even talking about it.

Quebec and Manitoba fund the expensive IVF treatments, infertility patient Jane Evans of Toronto told the rally. She and her husband considered moving to Quebec to try to start their family.

"Last year we finally told our parents what we had been going through and how hopeful we were that the (Ontario) government would fund IVF so we could have a baby here and wouldn't have to move to Quebec," she said.

"Both sets of grandparents were shocked that we would consider moving out of province, and each offered to help us pay for IVF, so we scraped together enough money for one cycle of IVF as well as all of the drugs. One chance."

It's a very emotional experience now that she's in the middle of the one round of IVF treatment her family can afford, said Evans.

"I'm excited and terrified: excited that our dream might come true this month, and terrified that it might not."

Two Ontario government-ordered reviews of in vitro fertilization have recommended the province fund up to three rounds of treatments.

Funding IVF would reduce instances of costly multiple births and save the province about $550 million over 10 years, said Dr. Art Leader, professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa and a member of the government's expert panel.

"By linking funding to single embryo transfer we can bring happiness to tens of thousands of Ontarians, and at the same time reduce the multiple birth rate -- the highest in Canada," said Leader, the father of a daughter conceived through IVF.

"This approach will save the province hundreds of millions of dollars, enough to pay for the added costs of IVF care."

Ontario women wait too long before trying infertility treatments "because they can't afford them until later in life," added Leader. At age 38, the live birth rate after in vitro fertilization is 11 per cent, compared to 40 per cent at age 35.

"Premier McGuinty, follow through on your promise to ease the suffering of those who long to build a family but cannot do so," Leader said to cheers from the prospective parents at the rally.

However, Health Minister Deb Matthews said Friday that the Liberal government only promised to study IVF, not to fund it, and is reviewing the studies' recommendations while also keeping an eye on the record $24.7-billion deficit.

"They make a pretty compelling case that (funding IVF) is the right thing to do," Matthews said. "But we really do have to look at it in the context of the fiscal reality in which we're all living."

The government should also reimburse adoption costs for parents who believe there are many children worldwide who are available and deserve a loving home, said Jane Meachin of Chilliwack, B.C.

"Why should taxpayers foot the bill because there are people whose hearts are not open enough to accept a child that is not biologically related to them, and whose egos insist that they must have a child of 'their own' no matter the cost, when the money they are spending to procreate would certainly enable them to adopt a child," wrote Meachin in an email.

The government's financial argument doesn't hold water, said opposition critics.

"The only argument we get from the McGuinty Liberals is about money," said New Democrat Cheri DiNovo. "It's not about ethics, it's about money, and even that argument is fallacious because it would actually save money to fund IVF."

It's better financially to fund IVF so Ontario doesn't have so many multiple births and the complications that come with that, said Progressive Conservative critic Christine Elliott.

"From a purely dollar and cents standpoint, it makes sense, but over and above that, it's just the right thing to do," said Elliott.