What is Infertility? 

Infertility is a disease defined by the failure to establish a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse or due to an impairment of a person’s capacity to reproduce either as an individual or with his/her partner. 

Ok, Ok, we tried to write this section a hundred times with the standard medical terminology and stats as we started above, but we believe that if you’re here, you have an idea about what infertility is, as you’re living it.

The bottom line, you’ve been getting down and dirty for at least 12 months (6 if you’re older than 35) without a successful pregnancy.

In some cases, infertility is established prior to attempting to conceive because of physical and diagnostic findings.

Who has infertility? Here are some stats…

Depending on where you live, up to 15% of couples have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. 

Unfortunately, these stats are limited to couples, but millions of women dealing with certain medical diagnosis’ such as PCOS and Endometriosis may have trouble conceiving well before they are in a couple and should therefore consider fertility preservation treatments. 

7.4 million women, or 11.9% of women in the U.S., have received some type of infertility services in their lifetime. (2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, CDC).

Approximately one-third of infertility is attributed to the female partner, one-third attributed to the male partner and one-third is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, is unexplained. (American Society For Reproductive Medicine)

Why Do I Have Infertility?

While some infertility diagnoses are easier to pinpoint due to a woman’s age, genetics or underlying health conditions such as diabetes, thyroid or STD’s; there are no statistical findings that can pinpoint to a specific reason most suffer from infertility.

It’s a frustrating answer to read, but healthy adults are just as likely to suffer from infertility as those who may be considered unhealthy. 

This medical condition does not discriminate by age, race or status. It’s important to accept this, as in most cases there is nothing that you could have done to prevent this.

We hope that Embie, along with our community, can become advocates for the next generation to receive better reproductive health care and diagnosis earlier in life. When issues are looked for and found earlier, it will give individuals more choices and control over the viability of their future fertility.