Throughout history, many societies and communities held infertility the inability to conceive or bear a child, as a badge of shame. In medical jargon, the World Health Organization defines it as a disease concentrated in the male and female reproductive system characterized by the failure to achieve pregnancy over a year or more of unprotected sexual intercourse. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention views infertility as a common problem of 1 out of 5 American women. Worldwide, it affects an estimated 186 million individuals.
With the fairly high number of individuals struggling with infertility, one would think that there is widespread acceptance and understanding. It is difficult to believe that the opposite is true. Because of cultural sensitivities, people are less accepting of sufferers of infertility in some societies. Fertility is associated with life and its continuation. Infertility does otherwise. It stops the proliferation of life in its tracks and the preservation of the family line. Dynasties have ended because of the failure of kings to sire a progeny.
The inability to become pregnant is even harder on women. Although there are cases of women making a choice not to become pregnant, pregnancy is still at the top of the list of the majority of women. Having a child is the realization of the dream of a complete family for a woman. Infertility breaks a woman’s heart and sometimes her family through an easily-obtainable divorce. Stress, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem are some of the negative things that women go through after an infertility diagnosis.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Advances in medical science have grown by leaps and bounds through the years. Medical procedures aimed to address infertility such as assisted reproduction technologies (ART) are now more precise and reliable. Although these are not within easy reach of the general population because of their high cost, they give hope to the millions who suffer from infertility.
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