Exploring the paths to fertilization and their costs

Talking about fertility care is difficult. On the one hand, sharing stories about the many winding paths to parenthood can be a great way to normalize the experience of infertility. On the other, it can be alienating to hear stories about treatments that worked for some, but not you.

Although fertility care looks different for each person receiving it, there's a general decision tree that most people follow. The first step is trying to figure out the cause of infertility, according to Jennifer Fay Kawwass, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Emory University.

Broadly speaking, if a couple can't get pregnant, about 30% of the time there may be a problem with the sperm, 30% of the time there's a problem with the eggs, ovaries, fallopian tubes, or reproductive tract, and 40% of the time, fertility specialists aren't clear what's wrong.