What is infertility?

Fertility is a person’s ability to start or maintain a pregnancy. Infertility is not being able to start or maintain a pregnancy. For a woman, it means that she either can’t become pregnant or that she can’t carry a baby full-term. For a man, it means that he cannot father a child. In medicine, infertility is defined for couples as being unable to conceive a child after one year of trying to get pregnant.

Men are infertile if:

• Their testicles don’t make sperm.
• The pathways that carry sperm are blocked or cut off.

Women are infertile if:

• Their ovaries don’t make mature eggs.
• Damage to the reproductive system keeps eggs from being fertilized.
• A fertilized egg cannot implant and grow inside the uterus.