As most of my followers know, I have struggled with infertility (for my miscarriage story, click here). But what is so important is that all of us should start talking about our fertility struggles. For generations, it has been a taboo topic that no-one likes to discuss because it makes them feel weak or less than, but that is simply NOT TRUE.
Did you know:
- 1 in 8 couples struggle trying to conceive or staying pregnant? (CDC.gov)
- 7.4 million women have received infertility services in their lifetime? (CDC.gov)
- 1/3 of infertility is attributed to men (asrm.org)
- Even as a fully functioning healthy couple, your chances of conception every month is only 20% (CDC.gov)
I mean when I read these statistics my jaw dropped! I mean, I don’t know about you but I NEVER in my life would have thought getting pregnant would be so difficult. You watch shows like 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom and think, OMG it’s too easy! Avoid sex, double down on birth control, etc, etc. When in reality, IT’S NOT EASY. Sure uh-oh’s happen but thats a 1 in 5 chance.
Growing up you think, my body has 1 job, to be able to carry, nurture and raise babies and then when you finally get to that pivotal point in your life; YOUR BODY FAILS. & it’s because of you. HOW DEFEATING. I know I felt like a complete failure and probably cried myself to sleep more nights than I like to admit (or let my husband see) but accepting that reality is hard.
Why do we keep it inside?
Well can you imagine accepting failure easily and with grace? Probably not. But we need to not see infertility as a failure, we need to see it as an opportunity to be the strongest badass in the fucking business of baby making.
Hell yeah, I said it. The business of baby making. The hustle of fertility medications. The swag on top of those diagnoses. A seat at the table to discuss why we need affordable fertility options.
I don’t know many millennials (or people in general) who have $12k to drop on IVF treatments but I do know that while pro-lifers are out there saving babies from abortions THEY ARE NOT HELPING WOMEN who need help having babies! We need more advocates to fight the infertility fight by speaking out about our experiences.
We are at a pivotal point in female reproductive health in politics.
They want to limit rights to access to birth control and fetal termination but they are not making legislature to help women who want babies. Why?
This is a question that I have trouble answering every single day.. Why are we pro-life but not pro-CREATING LIFE. Why are we not advocating for infertility treatments as much as we advocate for regulating fertility prevention?
I would like to challenge you to tell you story, whether it’s to me, you want to write a guest blog (publicly or anonymously) or to announce it on social media using #ProCreatingLife. If we do not advocate for our struggle, who else will?
Drop a line, I would love to continue the discussion