Ashlee Amborn, 30, had spent years undergoing fertility treatment before she became pregnant with her first two children. According to ABC News, she conceived her third child just four months after giving birth to her second — a pregnancy she credits to a GLP-1 medication.
Amborn told ABC News she has polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, formerly known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, along with a single functioning fallopian tube, half a uterus and two working ovaries. When her PMOS symptoms flared after her second delivery, bringing severe inflammation and hormonal disruption, she said she felt she had to act.
A medical professional suggested she try a GLP-1 to manage those symptoms. One month into the medication, she was pregnant.
Amborn described the news as a jumble of feelings. She said she was stunned to have conceived without fertility treatment, and that she kept asking herself how it had happened. She also said multiple doctors had previously warned her that pregnancy would be very difficult, possibly impossible, which made the speed of this conception even harder for her to process.
Why it matters
The anecdote lands in the middle of a broader and still unsettled conversation about what GLP-1 medications do beyond weight loss. A recent review published in a South American medical journal points to a possible connection between GLP-1 use and better fertility results in women who have both obesity and PMOS, particularly those also taking metformin, an oral diabetes drug.
The review's authors offered one explanation: weight loss on GLP-1s can improve insulin resistance, and that improvement is linked to reproductive benefits such as higher ovulation rates and a lower chance of ovarian dysfunction.
That is a hypothesis, not a proven mechanism. Dr. Jacinta Anyaoku, a physician who focuses on obesity and women's health in midlife, told ABC News that no studies establish a direct link between ovulation rates and GLP-1 use. She said, however, that she has seen the drugs appear to help among her own patients.
Anyaoku explained the reasoning in plain terms: losing weight reduces inflammation, and lower inflammation can support a better ovulation rate. She added that egg quality may also improve when inflammation falls, describing these as possible effects that accompany GLP-1 treatment.
What the drugs are not
Health experts stress that GLP-1s are not routinely prescribed as standard care for fertility and are not a substitute for other fertility medications. The distinction matters for anyone weighing the drugs against a conception plan.
Anyaoku told ABC News that patients should stop taking a GLP-1 before becoming pregnant, and that current guidance is to discontinue the medication roughly two months before they begin trying to conceive.
Karen Berger, a pharmacist at an independent pharmacy in New Jersey, told ABC News that the prescribing information for these drugs directs patients to talk through pregnancy plans with their healthcare provider and to get in touch right away if they discover they are pregnant while using one.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises against using GLP-1s during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, according to ABC News. The group says that for some women, starting a GLP-1 may be considered once breastfeeding has ended, as a way to support overall health.
In general, the choice to begin a GLP-1 belongs inside an individualized plan built with a healthcare professional.
Anecdotes are not evidence
Amborn's case illustrates why the topic draws so much attention and so much caution at once. Her history of PMOS and structural reproductive differences would ordinarily point toward a difficult path to pregnancy, and she said she had been told as much by more than one doctor.
Her experience also sits alongside a separate trend noted in the source material: a sharp rise in postpartum GLP-1 receptor agonist use between 2018 and 2025, as reported by Infectious Disease Advisor. That rise suggests more women are on these medications in the period around pregnancy, which makes questions about timing, discontinuation and safety more pressing rather than less.
Researchers are also trying to pin down whether exposure to these drugs around pregnancy carries risks. One outlet, EMJ, reported findings indicating no clear increase in adverse outcomes from GLP-1 exposure around pregnancy. Medscape, meanwhile, reported on an international consensus effort aimed at addressing how GLP-1 receptor agonists should be used in pregnancy. Taken together, the coverage shows a field working to standardize guidance that patients and clinicians currently navigate case by case.
What the evidence does not yet show is that a GLP-1 will help any given woman conceive. The review cited by ABC News describes a possible association in a specific group — women with obesity and PMOS, especially those also on metformin — and the physician quoted describes potential effects rather than guaranteed ones. The gap between a plausible mechanism and a demonstrated outcome is where most of the uncertainty lives.
For patients, the practical takeaways are narrower than the headlines suggest. GLP-1s remain weight-loss and metabolic medications, not fertility drugs. Anyone hoping to conceive should discuss timing with a clinician, plan to stop the medication well before trying, and avoid use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, per the guidance cited by ABC News.
Watch for further research that measures ovulation and pregnancy outcomes directly in women using GLP-1s, and for clearer consensus guidance on how these drugs should be handled before, during and after pregnancy.
