James McIntosh, MEDICAL NEWS TODAY
(Medical News Today) — The study, published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, also found that infertility impaired many of the women’s sense of self and gender identity.
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are an estimated 6.7 million women ages 15-44 in the US with an impaired ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term. Around 1.5 million married women ages 15-44 are diagnosed as infertile.
Infertility is a traumatic condition experienced by many women in the US. The medical definition of infertility for women is when a woman is unable to conceive after 12 months of regular, unprotected sex.
Women from all backgrounds can be affected, yet the majority of research on infertility in the US examines affluent white couples participating in advanced medical interventions. On top of this, the authors of the study state that African-American women are equally, if not more, likely to experience infertility than their white peers.
###