Uh-oh spaghetti-Os. Image: Josh Parrish In 2012 Chelsea Bernhardt Polis and Laurie Schwab Zabin of John Hopkins university published their findings on misconceptions over fertility in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Amusingly named Missed Conceptions or Misconceptions: Perceived Infertility Among Unmarried Young Adults In the United States the study found that from a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,800 unmarried men and women aged 18-29: "19% of women and 13% of men believed that they were very likely to be infertile." It seems a lot of young women are under the false impression they are infertile, leading them to be somewhat reckless with birth control methods and finding out via the surprise foetus test that they were in fact most fecund. Or reasonably fecund. Look, they're fertile OK?
Fertility is often in the press. Usually women's fertility. It seems we aren't quite clear on what fertility is and it's hard to tell whether we are fertile or not until it's put to the test. We are bombarded with stories (usually in the Telegraph and the Daily Mail) about not leaving getting pregnant too late. Or start too early of course. Recently when the famous Walton sextuplets turned 30 all the press could focus on was the fact that not one Walton sextuplet had had a child yet.
Alison Pearson wrote in the Telegraph: "What strikes me is that not one of the girls is married, or has children, although three are engaged and all have careers. Their mother, Janet, now 61, is desperate for grandchildren, but her daughters are in no hurry to oblige." As though the decision to spawn is based on your parent's desires not your own. And before you go thinking your fertility is your own business to be unaware of - it's not! It is for us all to speculate over.
Which is probably why we are both starved of knowledge about the subject and therefore completely at odds with our own bodies. We focus so much on not leaving it too late that women over the age of 35 are convinced they are barren.
Alison Pearson wrote in the Telegraph: "What strikes me is that not one of the girls is married, or has children, although three are engaged and all have careers. Their mother, Janet, now 61, is desperate for grandchildren, but her daughters are in no hurry to oblige." As though the decision to spawn is based on your parent's desires not your own. And before you go thinking your fertility is your own business to be unaware of - it's not! It is for us all to speculate over.
Which is probably why we are both starved of knowledge about the subject and therefore completely at odds with our own bodies. We focus so much on not leaving it too late that women over the age of 35 are convinced they are barren.
| There has therefore been a rise in the number of women in their 40s choosing to have terminations having previously thought there chances of conceiving was too low to worry about. | we have begun to believe that fertility is to do with frown lines rather than anything else. |
In 2012, 7,737 abortions were recorded as being carried out for women aged between 40 and 44, a big increase on the figure in 2002 which was 6,531. Bpas has said they now carry out more abortions for women over 35 than those under 18.
Ann Furedi, bpas Chief Executive commented on the figures: "Over the past few years we have seen much scaremongering about older women’s fertility. From 'career women' leaving it too late to older women 'banking on IVF' to conceive, these stories lead many women to dramatically underestimate their own fertility later in life.
...We know from speaking to women that stories and campaigns suggesting it's hard to get pregnant after 35 - even if well intentioned - are having a real impact on women's perception of their own fertility, and therefore their use of contraception."
The constant tut-tutting and 'tick-tock'-ing of the media has resulted in the idea that once you turn 30/get a promotion your ovaries shivel, your uterus sags and your nipples drop off. Even though even basic sex ed and GCSE biology tells us if you are menstruating then you are probably fertile we have begun to believe that fertility is to do with frown lines rather than anything else.
Furudi continues with her commons sense: "Women deserve accurate, impartial information to make their own choices about family planning in their 30s. Fertility does decline as you get older, but the drop is not as great as we are sometimes led to believe."
Prof Neil McClure, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Queen's University Belfast soberly added: "Women should not rely on their increasing age as a method of contraception."
It seems you're never too old for some sex education...
Squeamish Kate
Ann Furedi, bpas Chief Executive commented on the figures: "Over the past few years we have seen much scaremongering about older women’s fertility. From 'career women' leaving it too late to older women 'banking on IVF' to conceive, these stories lead many women to dramatically underestimate their own fertility later in life.
...We know from speaking to women that stories and campaigns suggesting it's hard to get pregnant after 35 - even if well intentioned - are having a real impact on women's perception of their own fertility, and therefore their use of contraception."
The constant tut-tutting and 'tick-tock'-ing of the media has resulted in the idea that once you turn 30/get a promotion your ovaries shivel, your uterus sags and your nipples drop off. Even though even basic sex ed and GCSE biology tells us if you are menstruating then you are probably fertile we have begun to believe that fertility is to do with frown lines rather than anything else.
Furudi continues with her commons sense: "Women deserve accurate, impartial information to make their own choices about family planning in their 30s. Fertility does decline as you get older, but the drop is not as great as we are sometimes led to believe."
Prof Neil McClure, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Queen's University Belfast soberly added: "Women should not rely on their increasing age as a method of contraception."
It seems you're never too old for some sex education...
Squeamish Kate
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