Long invisible, often silent, the question of infertility was widely addressed by Emmanuel Macron during his press conference on January 16. By announcing the creation of a major plan to combat infertility, the President of the Republic has put this issue at the heart of public debate.
In France, one in four couples encounter difficulties having a child. In most cases, no one knows about their journey. Neither their family nor their friends, and even less their employer. They keep it secret. Result: a lot of stress and pressure – because you have to dodge questions from those around you and organize daily life according to medically assisted procreation procedures. Breaking the taboo of infertility is the fight of Virginie Rio, of BAMP collective, an association of patients of medically assisted procreation and infertile people. She gave an interview to World as part of the (In)fertile podcast.
Also listen Infertility: why is it so taboo?
For more than ten years, you have been fighting to bring infertility out of the shadows. Emmanuel Macron’s announcements have brought this subject to the forefront. But, in private, he often remains secret. For what ?
For the couples concerned, there is the desire to keep this in the private sphere. We are in a performance society. You have to succeed, you have to stay young. By talking about infertility, you are showing failure. You show that something that has been done so simply for millennia can be complicated. Talking about sexuality is tricky.
When the plan to have a child arrives, we do not spontaneously wonder about our fertility. Is there a lack of information on this subject?
Fertility should be an issue of public responsibility. As we prevent cancer or our children’s teeth, there should be better dissemination of information. The better informed we are, the better we can make choices.
We often meet couples who discover, stunned, that they are in a situation of infertility. They had never thought about it and therefore did not expect it. They were far from imagining that fertility decreased with age, that it could be affected by sexually transmitted diseases or by a whole host of pathologies. They learn that lifestyle, healthy lifestyle and endocrine disruptors can play a role. And then, the second blow, we explain to them that medically assisted procreation (AMP) is not very effective and that the journeys are long, difficult to live with and affect daily life.
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