Pregnancy, Infertility and Responsible Parenting

Women are designed biologically to bear children and so pregnancy is a normal part of life. There are about six million women who get pregnant in the USA every year. However, according the American Pregnancy Association , close to two million pregnancies will not be successful. Some of these women will terminate the pregnancy through abortion, but the majority of women will have complications delivering a life birth.

About 26,000 pregnancies are carried full term, yet, the delivery ends in a stillbirth (dead baby). Then there are complications that can occur during any part of the pregnancy that will lead to a failed pregnancy. At the very beginning of the process, there are about 64,000 women who have ectopic pregnancies. This occurs when the fertilized egg does not attach to the uterus; it attaches in other places, most commonly the fallopian tube.

There are about 6,000 women who experience molar pregnancies . These complications occur at the time of conception when the egg and sperm fertilize, but they do not grow in a normal healthy way, causing the eventual termination of the pregnancy. Miscarriages account for about 600,000 failed pregnancies.

Then there are women who are infertile or their husbands cannot sire a child for various medical reasons. This growing medical concern affects over 6 million couples in America (14% of the childbearing population). Infertility is a growing medical issue and couples are devastated when they cannot conceive. Many people turn to various alternative ways of having a child. There is adoption and surrogacy. However, many women are determined to carry a child if it is at all possible.

Infertility in women often results in a blockage in the fallopian tube and the woman can conceive once the fertilized egg is placed in the uterus. The most common type of assisted reproduction is the in vitro fertilization (IVF). Other procedures include the use of fertility drugs.

Pregnancy is normally a happy time for women when the pregnancy is planned and wanted; however there are times when wanting a child is perhaps not the wisest choice for a family. Having children requires a long financial commitment. When families already have children and just feel like having more children because they love them, they may not be thinking of their financial feasibility, or other practical concerns about having so many children.

It is one thing to want a child if you do not have any. It is quite another situation to want additional children when you are having problems raising the ones you have already. This was the case with the famous Octomom, who already had children and took fertility drugs to have more. Nadya Suleman had 8 babies because of the fertility drugs. Suleman already had six other children and was an unemployed single mom. The decision to have extra children was not a wise one The doctor responsible for her octuplets was later held accountable for gross neglicience and had his license revoked. The doctor in question implanted 12 embryos in Suleman. We know 8 of them resulted in live births. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has recommended that women should be implanted with no more than two embryos at a time, if they are under 35 years old.

Sources:

Octomomma.com/

Americanpregnancy.org