Infertility & Impaired Fecundity
e-mail
What is Infertility?
The term infertility is the failure to conceive for a period of twelve months or longer due to a deviation from or interruption of the normal structure or function of any reproductive part, organ or system.
What is Impaired Fecundity?
The term impaired fecundity is defined as difficulty conceiving or in carrying a child to term.
How Many Americans are Affected?
- About 6.1 million women experienced impaired fecundity in 1995, compared with 4.9 million in 1988. The percent with impaired fecundity increased to 10.2% in 1995 from 8.4% in 1988. Some of this increase is due to the aging of the baby boom generation.(Fertility, Family Planning, and Women's Health, 1997)
- There were 2.1 million infertile couples in 1995, compared to 2.3 million in 1988 and 2.4 million in 1982. (Freundlich, 1998)
Who is Affected?
- Almost one-third of infertile childless married women were in the 35-44 year-old age group (Freundlich, 1998)
- Impaired fecundity is no more prevalent in any one race or socioeconomic group, but those in higher socioeconomic groups use infertility services far more often. (Mosher and Bachrach, 1996)
- Older women, childless women, and married women are significantly more likely to report impaired fecundity, but differences by race or ethnicity are not significant. (Barth, Brooks, Iyer, 1995)
- The trends with regard to impaired fecundity and infertility among older childless women appear to be associated with two factors: delayed child bearing and the very large numbers of Baby Boom women who have moved into their reproductive years. One demographer has estimated that the number of women with impaired fecundity may drop to 4.7 million in 2015 and then rise again to between 4.8 million and 5.9 million in 2020. (Freundlich, 1998)
Who Receives Services?
- Those using infertility services are more likely to be Caucasian, college educated, older than 30, have higher incomes, and have never given birth or been married. (Barth, Brooks, Iyer, 1995)
- Of those adoptive families who have experienced infertility, approximately half of those with fertility problems undergo medical treatment for an average of three years prior to adopting. (Barth, Brooks, Iyer, 1995)
- The 1995 National Survey of Family Growth found that 2 percent of all U.S. women of reproductive age - 1.2 million women - had received medical advice or treatment for infertility within the previous year and that another 13 percent had received such services at some point earlier in their lives. (Freundlich, 1998)
Why Pursue Services?
- Families who give birth as a result of donor insemination chose the procedure primarily because of their dissatisfaction with the adoption process on three counts:
* long waiting lists
* grueling and demeaning selection process
* worries about adoption laws and the security of adoptions. (Barth, Brooks, Iyer, 1995) - Like treatment for infertility, the adoption process is viewed by many infertile couples as time-consuming, intrusive, and beyond the control of the couple. (Bachrach, London, Maza, 1991)
Bibliography
Bachrach, C.A., London, K.A., and Maza, P. (1991). On path to adoption: adoption seeking in the U.S., 1988. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53(3), 705-718.
Barth, R.P., Brooks, D., and Iyer, S. (1995). Adoptions in California: current demographic profiles and projections through the end of the century. Executive Summary. Berkeley, California: Child Welfare Research Center.
Fertility, Family Planning, and Women's Health: New Data From the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. (1997). Washington, DC: National Center for Health Statistics, Center for Disease Control.
Freundlich, M. (1998). Supply and demand: the forces shaping the future of infant adoption. Adoption Quarterly, 2(1), 13-42.
Mosher, W.D. and Bachrach, C.A. (1996). Understanding U.S. fertility: continuity and change in the national survey of family growth, 1988-1995. Family Planning Perspectives, 28(1).
Credits: Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov)
