WHOse Got Infertility? Parameters for Seeking Help, especially for LGBTQ...
WHO’s Infertile? Why it may no longer take a year of unprotected intercourse to make the diagnosis…
Before you reflexively nod yes or no and start to sing the lyrics to the Madonna song “Who’s That Girl,” take a minute to consider what we are asking and why. We are not asking because we want to rub salt in a wound for those with infertility or remind those who are going through fertility treatments how painful it can be. We want WHOever to know that the WHO (better known as the World Health Organization) has changed the definition of infertility. And while it may not make the cover of the New York Times, it is a testament to our times, and it’s about time everyone knew about it. So, take some time to hear what WHO has to say.
The times, they are a changing. Single men and single women as well as same-sex male and same-sex female couples have traditionally been barred from using their insurance’s fertility benefits because, by definition, they were not infertile (a.k.a. they had not failed to conceive a pregnancy after 12 months of regular unprotected intercourse). No matter how difficult it was to “do the deed” to declare them fertile (or infertile), they were repeatedly denied coverage for fertility treatments. Lack of monthly “exposure” to the opposite gamete, that is, an egg or sperm, put them at a lack for “access” to what they had paid for month after month in their premiums: unfair (to say the least). But you know, WHO was listening and is doing something to change it.
In early October (2016), the World Health Organization suggested that infertility be amended in a major way. Rooted in a desire to give every individual the “right to reproduce,” the WHO has changed the diagnosis from a straight-up medical one (one year of unprotected intercourse without a pregnancy) to a social one as well (no partner or a partner without the necessary gametes). Those without access to eggs or sperm (single men, single women, or same-sex partnered couples) are also infertile and deserve every opportunity to become a parent.
And while you may not know or care to know who the WHO is, it is WHAT they have to say that can be world changing. We take our hats off to those WHO have pushed the notion of fertility equality forward. Recognizing that no access to the opposite gamete is no different from repeated unsuccessful attempts with the opposite gamete, would expand who can be parents and who can’t. WHO can argue with that?