Women’s sexual health - Infertility

The Politics of Infertility

We all know what infertility is. It is a widespread term that is used in hushed tones with friends but with clear and loud definitions in our legal code. When it comes to something as sensitive as Infertility, which can be a permissible ground for divorce or annulment, just where are the boundaries?

For most experts, infertility is not being able to get pregnant after trying for at least a year. There are also cases when women will be able to get pregnant but unfortunately have repeated miscarriages. The inability to nurture a child inside the womb, even after conceiving it, is still considered infertility.

As for The International Council on Infertility Information Dissemination (INCIID), infertility   is not having conceived even after 6 months of unprotected intercourse as well as after 12 months if the woman happens to be over 35 years of age.

Following the letter of the law, infertility would then be relative to where you are. Nevertheless, it is a globally felt abnormality and just according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, infertility already affects ten percent of the reproductive population.

Of all the cases of infertility globally, about one-third of these cases are due to some deficiency in the woman. Reportedly, also about a third of these cases are due to the man while the remaining cases are caused by unknown factors. But just in United States, a higher 12 percent of their women, or 7.3 million had difficulty getting pregnant. This fact is from a date gathered in 2002 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control. The general factors which cause infertility include diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorders, adrenal disease, significant liver, kidney disease and psychological factors.

Treatments for infertility can vary from fertility medication to surgery, donor insemination and In vitro fertilization (IVF) or other assisted reproductive technology (ART). Needless to say, these do not come cheap. US 2005 approximate for the treatment and diagnosis of infertility in US$ could reach up to $10,000 -14,000 for an IVF cycle. For artificial insemination, the cost runs up to $500- 900 per trial. Most of the people residing in the U.S. do not have insurance that will also cover for fertility investigations and treatments. Insurance companies especially do not accommodate couples who have already had children.

Apart form the cost, there are also a lot of considerations for infertility. For one, this has many ethical issues associated with its treatment.