SHOULD WE TEACH FERTILITY IN SCHOOL?

WITH MUM-OFTWO AND SOCIAL COMMENTATOR ANGELA MOLLARD

Young women do not realise their fertility declines from the age of 31 and many are leaving it too late to get pregnant, prompting calls for fertility classes at school. Experts believe misconceptions around IVF and the previous focus on preventing teenage pregnancy has led to a lack of understanding.

The decline in Australia’s birthrate and the belief that many women are leaving it too late in life to conceive has led to a need for “life planning” according to Westmead Fertility Centre medical director Howard Smith.

“I certainly think fertility would be a very valuable thing to have people aware of in their life planning because age is by far the biggest (contributor to fertility),” he says. Fertility myths including that “medical science will help people get pregnant no matter how old they are” needed to be challenged and couples also need to know how obesity impacts on fertility, he adds.

With older female celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Brigitte Nielsen and Rachel Weisz becoming pregnant and having babies, young women run the risk of believing their desire to have a child will be met when they are ready.

The push for fertility classes is also gaining momentum overseas where experts are concerned that the pain of involuntary childlessness is not fully publicised. Likewise, the limits of reproductive technologies needs to be examined. In a recent study a third of women believed that up to a fifth of babies each year were born as a result of IVF treatment or donor insemination. In fact, only one in 50 babies are born via such means.

While there has been some resistance to such lessons amid fears that it detracts from young women focusing on their careers, experts now believe the priority should be on giving women all the information necessary.

With infertility being such a major issue, experts agree that sound, factual and unbiased information is critical in helping young women make life choices.

Fertility expert and University of Queensland associate professor Gino Pecoraro agrees education is key. “Information is power and our children deserve to be given correct information,” he says.