A Lot of Women Have Misconceptions About Fertility

Do you really know all the important info when it comes to fertility? Well, a new study performed by the Yale Fertility Center published in Fertility and Sterility reports that a lot of women do not understand the consequences of delaying motherhood and they rely too much on assisted reproductive technologies (procedures like IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, cryopreservation and intrauterine insemination) that help fix fertility problems due to aging. Experts made the report after they observed that more women were coming to the Yale Fertility clinic over the age of 40 with the expectation that they wouldn’t have any problems conceiving.

Fertility doctors at the center have observed that some women aren’t aware that fertility really does decrease with age and that the growing popularity of fertility treatments have given women a false sense of security -- they could start to believe that it’s easy to get pregnancy later in life. Pasquale Patrizio, MD, director of the Yale Fertility Center believes that education is needed: “We should begin educating women more aggressively. Women should be given the appropriate information about postponing fertility, obstetric risks and the limited success of assisted reproductive technologies in advanced age to allow them to make informed decisions about when, if at all, they hope to become pregnant.” Dr. Patrizio also recommends that women take advantage of egg freezing or egg donation, if women want to postpone motherhood.

Plus, more from The Bump:

How Much Fertility Treatments Cost

Should You Worry About Infertility?

10 Common Fertility Mistakes

-- Sarah Yang

See More: Fertility and Ovulation