It's Infertility Awareness Week

What is this graphic saying? Clearly the message is that if you can't have a kid of your own...after trying...the booby prize is adoption!  And a kid of color is the newest "in" thing this season! 

The photo leaves us with little doubt that the smiling lady did NOT "resolve" her infertility medically!

Adoption does not resolve infertility.

According to the Mayo Clinic, approximately 15 percent of married heterosexual couples are infertile. It do s not include singles and same sex couples also seeking to be parents.

Infertility awareness should be focusing on these PREVENTION measures:

1. Delaying childbirth into your is risky business. Pregnancy is possible, but...

• A number of different problems characterize the ability to achieve pregnancy over 35. There is a noticeable decline in the fertility rate starting at age 35 to a level of about 10% per month.
• he pregnancy risk over 35 is higher as well as evidenced an increase in the miscarriage rate and the incidence of genetic abnormality in pregnancy. At 35, the miscarriage rate is 25% and the risk of Down syndrome becomes about 1/350. 35 is the age at which genetic testing in pregnancy is first recommended since the chance of picking up an abnormality is greater than the risk of the procedure used to find it.
• There is a sharp decline in a woman’s ability to achieve pregnancy over age forty. The fertility rate per month is only about 5% and even with in Vitro Fertilization (IVF), the most successful infertility treatment available, the pregnancy rate is only about 10% per try. This is due to the greatly reduced number of normal eggs remaining in the ovaries of a woman over forty. 
• Estimates from embryo biopsy reveal that at least 90% of a woman’s eggs are genetically abnormal when a woman is over 40. This is explains the increased pregnancy risk over 40. The miscarriage rate is 33% at age 40. Genetically abnormal pregnancies are more common as well with an incidence of 1/38 at age 40.
• Women over 45 have less than a 1% chance of getting pregnant using their own eggs.
• Research also shows that older women who have recently given birth are more likely to develop breast cancer in the 15 years following the birth than their peers of the same age who have never had children.

2. Smoking cigarettes or marijuana increases infertility, especially by reducing sperm counts.

3. Obesity or being too thin increase infertility. A body weight close to the ideal for your height to reduce the possibility of hormone imbalances. This is very important for men as well as for women.

4. Excessive alcohol consumption is may damage eggs or sperm.

5. Environmental contaminants and chemical exposure is a risk factor. 

6. STDs that go undetected and untreated can damage the reproductive system and cause infertility. If you think you may have an STD, get treatment promptly to reduce the risk of damage to your reproductive system. Make sure you know how to use a male condom and/or how to use a female condom.

•  Chlamydia and gonorrhea are important preventable causes of infertility. Untreated, about 10-15% of women with chlamydia will develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Chlamydia can also cause fallopian tube infection without any symptoms. PID and “silent” infection in the upper genital tract may cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissues, which can lead to infertility.

• An estimated 2.8 million cases of chlamydia and 718,000 cases of gonorrhea occur annually in the United States.
• Most women infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea have no symptoms.

• CDC recommends annual chlamydia screening for all sexually active females 25 and under and for women older than 25 with risk factors such as a new sex partner or multiple partners.

7. Male infertility accounts for 40-50% of all infertility, according to wikipedia. The Mayo Clinic however reports that in about 20 percent of cases, infertility is due to a cause involving only the male partner. In about 30 to 40 percent of cases, infertility is due to causes involving both the male and female. In the remaining 40 to 50 percent of cases, infertility is due entirely to a cause involving the female.

• Drugs, alcohol and smoking play a major role as does strenuous bike and horseback riding.
• Anabolic steroids taken to stimulate muscle strength and growth can cause the testicles to shrink and sperm production to decrease.
• Often treatable, problems with sexual intercourse or technique may affect fertility. Difficulties with erection of the penis (erectile dysfunction), premature ejaculation, painful intercourse (dyspareunia), or psychological or relationship problems can contribute to infertility. Use of lubricants such as oils or petroleum jelly can be toxic to sperm and impair fertility.
• As in women, malnutrition and obesity are factor sin male infertility.
• Often disregarded, the age of the male partner IS also a factor. Men older than age 40 may be less fertile than younger men, according to the Mayo Clinic.

This should be a required part of every HS student's health classes!  

Decreased fertility in and of itself might actually be a blessing, as the planet is reaching a population of 7 billion; 9 billion by 2045 according to National Geographics, Dec. 2010. But in industrialized countries, which have lower birth rates to begin with, the infertile community turns to medical science for "cures" and when that fails, they turn to adoption.

The fact that the birth rate is far higher in less industrialized parts of the world means a continued flow of children from there to here...as illustrated in the graphic above.,.all justified by the persistent rescue and better life mythology that pervades adoption.

The current mind-set is, well, you can always "just" adopt!  This MUST change! Not only does it create demand for babies that are too often filled with exploitation, coercion, and corruption including kidnapping and stealing babies to be trafficked for adoption, it does NOT resolve infertility and often leads to children being raised by people for whom they are a disappointment that will never measure up to the fantasy baby they never were able to have. This in turn leads to child abuse and terminated adoptions.

We must stop financing the multi-billion dollar infertility industry AND the multi-billion dollar adoption industry. This can be accomplished through prevention education.  THAT and that alone is what infertility awareness should be about.

Adoption must return to being about finding homes for children in REAL need, not filling a demand! Morality and ethics demand it.