Fertility is not just a women’s issue, gynae says
SHAH ALAM – When a couple has a hard time conceiving, the finger pointings will almost always end up on the wife instead of the husband.
It is time to break the stigma that women were to shoulder the blame for not being able to conceive since men also suffered from infertilities.
KL Fertility Clinic Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr Natasha Ain Mohd Noor said the stigma bleeds from the cultural perspective where women have to take the blame for everything since they are the ones who should be getting pregnant and carrying the baby.
Still, people seem to have forgotten that it takes two to tango.
“I think most of the time, people forget that it takes two to make a baby. We are seeing more and more cases where men also play a role in causing one of the factors of subfertility.
“Previously, women contributed more to the cause of subfertility, where they contributed 30 percent and men contributed 20 percent.
“Now, sperm issues have caused men to contribute more, which is 30 percent, to the cause of subfertility,” she said during a live show on May 17.
Dr Natasha explained that this should open the eyes of the public that failing to conceive as a couple does not mean the blame should fall on the women, despite their willingness to take the responsibility due to their stronger mentality to cope with the stigma as compared to men.
“It is possible that this is more embarrassing for men, so women are willing to take the blame.
“Women might also be thinking that even if it’s the men’s problem, the one who has to go through the procedures, injections, do the treatments, carrying and delivering the baby is on them, after all,” she explained.
She shared her view that both women and men shared the same responsibilities when having trouble to conceive, and men were encouraged to be as supportive as they could and avoid from blaming each other.
She said this during Sinar Daily’s live show entitled Relatable: The Struggles of Conceiving where she was joined by another two panellists with experience in IVF treatment, Kim Raymond and Hazwani Mohd.
The episode addressed the causes of infertility, the social stigma surrounding infertility, and how it is always perceived exclusively as a women’s problem.
