Interest in fertility care is skyrocketing across the U.S. However, new research reveals that there’s a significant gap in fertility education among American women, including the basics surrounding reproductive health.
Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of The Prelude Network fertility clinics, researchers spoke to 2,000 American women between the ages of 18 and 40. They found that seven in 10 women, who had not previously faced fertility issues, never had a conversation with their primary care doctor, obstetricians, or gynecologists about fertility.
That knowledge gap matters because patients may not realize what their fertility care options are, explained Tammy Sun, founder of Carrot Fertility, a global fertility care platform for women.
“When it comes to women’s reproductive health, we are often educated on menstruation and contraception when we’re young, but we don’t hear as much about fertility and why it’s important to our lifelong hormonal health,” said Sun. “Fertility is about preconception, reproductive health, actively pursuing parenthood, pregnancy, and importantly, post-reproductive fertility healthcare, including menopause.”
According to the survey, reproductive health topics that have been discussed with doctors included birth control pills (46 percent), vaginal health (39 percent) and how menstrual cycles work (33 percent). In comparison, just 5 percent said they spoke to their physician about in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and 4 percent for intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatments.
One company tackling access, cost, and education around reproductive care is Kindbody — a fertility-clinic network that was recently named the number one fastest growing woman owned and led company .
I recently chatted with Dr. Natalia Grob, a fertility specialist for Kindbody, to discuss some of the biggest questions and myths about reproductive care. Here’s our conversation, which has been edited for brevity and clarity:
Should women wait to see a fertility specialist until they’re a certain age?
Dr. Grob: No, you can learn and meet with a fertility doctor to learn more about your fertility at any point, even if you haven’t started trying to conceive yet.
Are there any factors that control how many eggs women produce naturally?
Dr. Grob: We are born with all the eggs we will ever have. And so, every month, whether you have your own birth control pills or are doing IVF to get pregnant, you’re losing the same number of eggs. So, no matter what you’re doing, each month, you’re gonna continue losing eggs. And that’s why as we get older, it gets harder for us to get pregnant. And as we get older, we’re also at increased risk of having problems like miscarriage as well as having infertility.
Is there an age limit to fertility treatment?
Dr. Grob: It’s never too late to have a conversation with a fertility doctor and learn about your goals and your experiences. But in general, we tell women that the limiting step for their fertility has to do with their age and how many eggs they have. But women can carry pregnancies really, until their 50s. And that’s why you see all these celebrities that have families in their 50s. It’s not a natural conception. It’ not a miracle baby. It’s really just because they’ve done some form of fertility preservation so that they could wait longer to have a child.
Will being on birth control in your 20s or 30s affect your fertility?
Dr. Grob: A great question, but the answer is no. So you’re going to continue losing the same number of eggs every month, whether you’re on birth control pills, doing IVF, or actually pregnant. And so, there’s this myth out there on the internet, that there needs to be a ‘washout’ period with regards to how long you’re off birth control pills. And it’s just not true. That’s why you see people who miss one or two pills have unintended pregnancies because no ‘washout’ is needed. It’s just a myth.
What role should partners have as women seek out fertility options and care?
Dr. Grob: I’m a little biased because I’m a divorced single mom. And so, I will advocate that, you know, I really think that it really should involve all parties and a family from the very beginning. It doesn’t make sense clinically, or ethically to only do testing for one person. So, if you’re a family, you’re in it together, and let’s both do testing to figure out what we need to do.
If a patient’s parents didn’t have difficulties getting pregnant does that mean they won’t have trouble getting pregnant either?
Dr. Grob: No. The world is so different now than it was when our parents were trying to conceive. And so, so many women are also delaying childbearing and that’s why we see infertility continues to rise and become more and more prevalent with each passing year.