By Randi Locke
Recently, people have begun to question the regulations and ethics of the fertility industry. From documentaries like The Man With 1000 Kids to over 50 cases of fertility fraud according to Forbes magazine this year, people are addressing the consequences of a medical branch that is less than 50 years old. The industry started by providing artificial insemination and fertility drugs. Only with the introduction of invitro fertilization in 1978 did the fertility industry take off. As the industry continued to flourish, people who were once unable to have kids now had the family they dreamed of. However, issues only arose once parents and children began sharing their experiences. From practically going broke trying to pay for treatments, to sperm donors lying about health issues. But with all these stories, it is hard not to notice that there is a lack of diversity. Black and brown people are being left out of the conversation about ethical fertility practices due to outdated stereotypes and a lack of diversity within the industry.
The main reason for this is due to the stereotype of Hyperfertility among black and brown women. In fact around the time fertility clinics were taking off in the 90’s, so was the harmful “welfare queen” stereotype. This stereotype was first developed in the 70’s when a biracial woman in Chicago Linda Taylor, managed to steal 50,000 dollars worth of government assistance from the City of Chicago. Her story was used in Ronald Regan’s presidential campaign as a way to instill fear in voters. However, he extended the story to exclude her crimes of identity fraud and focus on the fact that she had multiple children with multiple men.
Thus creating the stereotype that black women are single mothers who are overly fertile. This however is far from the truth. A study conducted by George Town University in 2013 demonstrated that black women were twice as likely to experience infertility than their white counterparts. However, because of the stereotypes surrounding black women, they are less likely to seek help.
Black women make up only 4.6% of women receiving treatments using assisted reproductive technology(ART). This is for multiple reasons. The first and most pressing is shame. Due to the stereotype of black women being overly fertile, black women feel a sense of shame when it comes to seeking help. Since infertility is still a taboo topic in the black community, these women often suffer in silence. Forcing them to seek treatment later than their white counterparts. Along with this shame comes an understandable distrust of medical professionals.
During the 1900s, several unethical experiments were conducted on black and brown people about reproduction. While we like to think that these experiments were in the past, there are still survivors of horrible experiments like the first Deprovera tests from 1967 to 1968.
Despite the tests showing that it caused cancer in the animals they tested, Deprovera was distributed to 14,000 women in the Grady Clinic. Fifty percent of the participants were black women. The birth control was administered without their consent.The shot caused some women to develop cancer and die. When the drug was denied for approval again in 1978, the FDA did not include these deaths when citing the failed trials.
Even when women do decide to get help, they might not be able to receive the same treatment. Starting with the causes of infertility, in a study conducted by the University of Michigan nearly 25% of black women between the ages of 18 and 30 will develop uterine fibroids. After 30 years old the number increases to 60%. Fibroids can block fallopian tubes or prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. There are surgeries like myomectomies and myolysis that can be used to treat fibroids without hindering fertility. Unfortunately, black women with fibroids are two to three times more likely to have a fibroid-related hysterectomy according to a study conducted in 2014. This does not just limit treatment options but eliminates them.
Compared to white women treatment options for black women are not as vast. Even the less expensive treatments like artificial insemination prove difficult. Only 3.3% of sperm donations are made by African Americans according to the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Researchers are still trying to determine the culprit for the lack of sperm. Aside from this, treatments like IVF are less accessible for black women due to financial disparities. The average cost of one round of IVF is 14,000 dollars. This is nearly half of the median income for black women which is 36,303 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. To afford the cost some people are going as far as taking part-time jobs with insurance policies that offer the treatment. Despite these pitfalls, black women have found ways to help other black women dealing with infertility.
Organizations like Fertility for Colored Girls provide black women with fertility resources, support groups, and provide fertility medication. Celebrities that have dealt with fertility issues like Remy Ma even provide grants for families that cannot afford treatments. Proving that despite the fertility industry treating black women like they don’t exist, black women will never have to fight this battle alone.
