Bad news or good news? The World Health Organization has put being single in the definition of infertility, making it a disability to reproduce.
Even if the WHO didn’t intend to put this in the literal sense, people without a sexual partner are now classified as ‘infertile’ for a simple reason.
The reason behind this is not to discriminate or insult single people out there, but a much nobler cause. This new classification will allow single people to receive the same priority as couples when it comes to in vitro fertilization.
Under these updated terms, single people (heterosexual and homosexual) who wish to have children will receive the same priority for IVF as couples have so far.
Single people who wish to be parents can search for sperm and egg banks like Cryos International for a wide range of fertility treatment options such as IVF, intrauterine insemination, home insemination, and Embryo Creation.
This means that those who want to remain single, or can’t find a suitable partner, can have a child of their own, and they will be given funds for IVF just as regular couples are.
The explanation behind this lies in the fact that the inability to find a suitable sexual partner in order to achieve conception can be considered as an equal disability as infertility, and these people should not be left out on this issue.
This idea has come to strong criticism, justified by the fact that medical fertility problems should not be equated with the social inability to find a partner.
However, the doctors who stand behind the study believe that even though it’s socially conditioned, the single status is nevertheless a cause for not being able to conceive a child.
Until now, the World Health Organization defined ‘infertility’ as the inability to achieve pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.
This new change in the definition binds all countries to revise their IVF treatment priorities and provide funds for single persons too.
One of the authors of the new definition, Dr. David Adamson, tells the Telegraph that the new definition of infertility now includes the rights of all individuals to have a family, including both heterosexual and homosexual single men and women.
The WHO international committee will send the new definition of infertility to every health minister for consideration this year.
Regarding IVF, it has reported that since the first IVF birth in 1978, 6.5 million children had been born using this technique by 2013.
Now the American Society for Reproductive Medicine estimated that another 10 million IVF babies would be born by the end of 2020.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that the new ‘infertility’ definition is justified? The opinions are strongly divided when it comes to this question. Does being single mean being infertile by default?
Via The Telegraph
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