Unwritten fertility clinic etiquette in spotlight following an incident targeting a mother who went to a clinic with her child A woman holds a home pregnancy test. (Getty Images Bank) A woman seeking fertility treatment for a second child found her car vandalized after she brought her first child with her to a fertility clinic, sparking debate online over whether children should be brought to such facilities, local media reported Wednesday.According to the Korean-language daily Chosun Ilbo, the incident occurred at a clinic in Gyeonggi Province. After an appointment, the woman, in her 30s, returned to the parking lot with her toddler son and discovered her car had been scratched dozens of times with what appeared to be a sharp object.Security camera footage later identified the suspect as another woman undergoing fertility treatment at the same clinic, the report said. The suspect told police she had damaged the car because she believed bringing a child to a fertility clinic was inconsiderate toward other patients. The mother reportedly brought her son because she had no one else to care for him.Unwritten rules?Posts on Momsholic, one of South Korea's largest online forums for parents and those trying to conceive, suggest many people view leaving children at home as an unwritten courtesy when visiting fertility clinics.Other commonly cited unwritten courtesies include avoiding conspicuous displays of pregnancy, such as talking loudly about pregnancy, keeping ultrasound images out of sight and refraining from wearing maternity badges.The incident, however, drew mixed reactions.While many made clear that scratching someone’s car is a crime, some said they understood the anger behind it.“As someone who has been undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment for two years, I know how painful it is to wait for a baby. Ultrasound photos and pregnancy badges can be hard to see, but hearing a baby laugh or listening to a mother talk to her child right next to you can be devastating," one user wrote on Threads.Some users even called for local fertility clinics to enforce a no-children policy, as some clinics in the United States and Europe do. A post from the FAQ section of the UK's Herts & Essex Fertility Centre states that children are not permitted inside the clinic. (Herts & Essex Fertility Centre) Others argued the unwritten rules had gone too far."It's nice if people choose to be considerate, but it shouldn't be an obligation," one commenter wrote.Another said hearing about another patient's successful pregnancy would have the opposite effect, saying "I'd congratulate them and think, 'This clinic must be doing a good job.'"The debate over etiquette at fertility clinics has intensified as infertility has become increasingly common in Korea.The number of infertility treatment procedures performed in the country reached 203,101 in 2023, up 38.9 percent from 146,354 in 2019.A total of 77,660 women received infertility treatment in 2023, with an average age of 37.3, according to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service.