Why We Need Reproductive Clinics and What They Can Do
One out of every eight couples, or approximately 12% of married women, have trouble either getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. The problem of infertility has plugged humankind throughout our history, but only recently, in the modern center for reproductive medicine, have infertility procedures advanced so far that childless couples can feel real hope. Here are all the statistics about why we need that center for reproductive medicine and what it can do.
- Infertility is everyone’s “fault.” In ancient times, infertility, and particularly the inability to produce a male child, was invariably blamed upon women. At other times, men have been on the receiving end of jokes because of an inability to produce children. The reality is that fertility experts now know that about one-third of all infertility is because of a problem in the female partner. Another third is due to a problem in the male partner. The final third is caused by a combination of issues involving both partners or is simply unexplained.
- We’re taking infertility more seriously than ever before. Today there are 15 states in America that have laws requiring insurance policies to cover at least some kinds of care at a center for reproductive medicine. These states are West Virginia, Texas, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Jersey, Montana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Louisiana, Illinois, Hawaii, Connecticut, California, and Arkansas.
- Fertility issues affect more people than you may think. In all, 7.4 million women, or nearly 12% of women in the population, have received some sort of infertility services. In fact, by the time women turn 40, only two in five who wanted to have a baby will actually be able to reproduce. Over 6 1/2 million women under age 44 have some kind of impaired ability to carry a baby term or to get pregnant in the first place. And 7.5% of sexually active men under the age of 45 have seen a fertility doctor at some point in their lives, according to a CDC study on the data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.
- Getting pregnant isn’t a given even for those with normal function of the reproductive system. Couples between the ages of 29 and 33, even those whose reproductive systems work well and are healthy, only have a 20% to 25% chance of conceiving during any given month. Fertility in women begins to decline around the age of 30, and declines very steeply after the age of 35. Most women are at their most fertile between 20 and 24 years of age; however, more women than ever in the past are interested in waiting both for marriage and for children.
- Infertility treatment does help. The treatment offered at a center for reproductive medicine can be very effective. About 44% of infertile women seek out medical assistance, and of those who do, 65% will be able to give birth. Between 85% and 90% of infertility is treated with either drug therapy or a surgical procedure.
If you are experiencing difficulty in conceiving a child or carrying a baby to term, you are not alone, and there is help available. There is a center for reproductive medicine near you, with infertility treatments that can make a real difference. Don’t live with the pain of infertility any longer; go to a center for reproductive medicine and get the help you need.
