Responses to article on fertility education for schools

I knew when I set out to write a piece for the Guardian about including infertility into the school sex education curriculum that it was a contentious issue, but hadn't anticipated how angry the idea would make some people.

None of the people I interviewed were suggesting any hugely radical changes, just mooting the thought that including some teaching about fertility awareness at school might be helpful.  It became apparent during my research that sex education isn't always as good as it could be, and that young people are often left confused about reproduction and fertility.  Even any worries about sending potentially confusing messages by teaching about infertility were allayed when it became apparent that including this as part of a coherent well-planned sex education programme would probably help to reduce teenage pregnancies, rather than encouraging young people to take risks.

So why did the suggestion make some people so cross?  I've always been fascinated as to why any mention of infertility sends a small percentage of the population - often those with quite a few naturally-conceived children of their own - into some kind of mental tail spin.  Not only did many people start raging at the very thought of mentioning infertility to young people, there were also the by-now-all-too-familiar rants about infertility itself.  What on earth induced one person to say that we should be "grateful" for infertility in the light of our rising world population?  Imagine changing that a little and suggesting we should be "grateful" for heart disease or cancer in the light of population growth...

One of the tweets I received after the piece summed it up for me, saying that the comments alone showed that infertility should be included into the sex education curriculum to encourage more understanding if nothing else -  and with that, I would most certainly agree...

Work and fertility treatment

You may have heard the recent news about a teacher who lost her job at a Catholic school in Indiana after having fertility treatment (see more here).  In this particular case, there were religious objections to the IVF treatment, but it does raise issues about fertility treatment and work which concern many women who are trying unsuccessfully to conceive.  There is no legal right to time of for fertility treatment, but most women do need to take at least a day or two off around the time of egg collection and embryo transfer.  Some take leave for this, but that can be hard as it is often difficult to pinpoint exactly when egg collection might occur and you may need to book leave some time in advance.  Others take sick leave, but there have been cases where employers have not been happy about this, claiming that fertility treatment is not the same as being ill.  Some more enlightened employers actually give time off for fertility treatment, and those that do generally find it is more than repaid in the grateful attitudes from staff who benefit from this.

If you are going through treatment and need time off, perhaps the best thing to do is to discuss this with your family doctor. Most will be willing to sign you off sick for a while, understanding the difficulties that can accompany fertility treatment. I wrote a feature about this some years back for The Guardian which may be worth a read if work and treatment is an issue for you.