Economic and psychological effects of postponing childbirth

Economic and Psychological Effects of Postponing Childbirth

In today's world, an increasing number of women, especially those in the United States and Europe, are opting to postpone having a child well into their thirties, forties and even past the age of fifty. Between 1970 and 1990, the rate of first births for American women increased by more than 100% for those between thirty and forty years of age and by 50% for those between forty and forty-five (Berkowitz, 1990, p. 659). Medically speaking, many doctors and OB/GYN's consider thirty-five as being quite young and see nothing wrong with a woman having a child beyond the age of forty as long as the mother-to-be is healthy and realizes that the chances of getting pregnant by her own egg supply is greatly diminished after the age of forty. However, there are numerous economic and psychological factors, such as the cost of fertility treatments and the inevitable "ticking" of the biological clock, that women in these age groups must face in order to decide whether or not to become pregnant after the age of thirty.

Fertility Treatments:

As a result of delaying childbirth until a woman is in her thirties or forties, many have turned to taking hormonal fertility drugs, hoping that it will enhance their ovulation and increase the chances of becoming pregnant. These drugs often work properly and can correct a woman's problems with ovulation to produce more eggs which increases the chance for conception. There are basically four types of fertility drugs used today -- Clomid (clomiphene citrate), a synthetic anti-estrogen, Follistim (follitropin), Humegon (menotropin) and Fertinex (urofollitropin), all of which greatly increase the incidence of conception but also come with certain physical risks.

Unfortunately, fertility treatments can be extremely expensive, especially for women who are not financially well-off. Generally, fertility treatments are done cyclically in tandem with ovulation and menstrual cycles. Each cycle can go as high as $7,000 for the use of certain drugs and as high as $11,000 for in-vitro fertilization. Of course, many insurance companies do not cover such fertility services which makes it mandatory for each woman or couple to explore their financial options (Kearney, 1998, p. 156).

Procrastination and the Biological Clock:

The psychological ramifications of procrastination, i.e. waiting for a long period of time before deciding to have a child, can be quite devastating. For example, a woman may feel that she has waited too long which may cause her to feel extremely depressed. To make matters worse, A.D. Domar points out that there is "increasing evidence that depression may contribute to infertility. Women with a history of depression have twice the infertility rates of women without a history of depression" (2000, p. 808).

One additional psychological result of waiting too long has to do with a feeling of desperation which may induce a woman to seek out medical assistance from those with poor track records regarding fertility treatment. Thus, the longer a woman delays becoming pregnant, the more she is susceptible to suffering psychological ramifications.

Of course, the biological clock, or that which determines the best period of time in a woman's life to become pregnant and experience a successful pregnancy, plays a major role in fertility treatments. However, some young women, due to a lack of education early in life, may not realize that such a thing as a biological clock exist. According to Michael Fox, the absence of not knowing about this clock may exclude some women from receiving fertility treatments, due to waiting too long. Fox adds that as a result doctors and fertility specialists should "be more aggressive in the counseling of women who are in (their) early to mid thirties and beyond who consider delaying childbearing" (2000, Internet).

Options:

When a woman decides to wait until her mid forties or beyond to have a child or if she is told by her physician or OB/GYN that her procrastination has resulted in lowering her chances to become pregnant, she is left with few options. Some women who either wait too long or find out that they cannot conceive turn to high-tech fertility treatments like in-vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (i.e. The sperm is mechanically inserted into the egg) or even egg donation in which contraception occurs in a petri dish where the embryo incubates from three to six days and then is placed in the uterus.