Women’s Resource Guide to Fertility Health Care

GUIDE/TOOLKIT

Published 2/25/22

Infertility is increasingly common in the United States, with nearly 1 in 8 couples having trouble getting pregnant or sustaining their pregnancy. While infertility is found to be due to male factors as often as female factors, women tend to bear a greater burden in infertility treatment and care management. Navigating fertility treatment can be complex, with significant emotional, physical, and financial stressors.

The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) has created resources guides for patients and providers to increase awareness and quality of fertility health care.

The Women’s Resource Guide to Fertility Health Care was created to help patients, women, and families navigate their fertility options, from creating a reproductive life plan to fertility evaluation and treatment.

As part of SWHR’s Fertility Program, this guide was co-released with the Clinician Resource Guide to Fertility Health Care.

Both guides build on SWHR’s Fertility Roundtable held in September 2021 and will be discussed during SWHR’s upcoming event: The Fertility Journey: Understanding Options and Navigating Care on March 18, 2022.

Download Resource Guide

What’s in the Guide?

You can access the entire Women’s Resource Guide to Fertility Health Care above or download these individual guide pieces:

Fertility and Family Planning

Fertility Patient Resource Guide Fertility and Planning a Family

Download

Understanding and Evaluating Infertility

Download

Understanding Your Fertility Treatment Options

Download

Navigating Your Fertility Care

Download

The guide is a project of SWHR’s Fertility Program, established in 2021 to address barriers to access and reduce health disparities related to treatments for infertility in women. The Program engages patients and patient advocates, clinicians and fertility specialists, researchers, and health care decision-makers around the burden of female infertility and promotes science-based health care policies and education to improve patient outcomes.

Check Out More Fertility Resources

6.4.24 | Fertility

Bridging the Infertility Care Gap

Infertility is clinically defined as the inability to achieve pregnancy after one year of intercourse without birth control or when an individual has had two or more failed pregnancies.

4.11.24 | Women's Health Perspective

Lindsey Howard’s Endometriosis Journey

I was diagnosed with endometriosis after laparoscopic surgery to remove two very large endometriomas in the winter of 2018. I consider myself lucky that I had physical evidence on my ultrasound of the pain I was enduring before, during, and after my period.

10.30.23 | Endometriosis

Rewriting Endometriosis Education for Providers and Policymakers

In this secondary blog, SWHR shares highlights from the interdisciplinary working group roundtable discussion held about endometriosis, in September 2023.

10.30.23 | Endometriosis

Illuminating the Endometriosis Experience to Improve Care

SWHR convened an interdisciplinary working group of health care providers, researchers, patients and patient advocates, and health care policy leaders for a roundtable discussion on endometriosis.

This document is intended to serve as an educational and informative resource and is not intended or implied to serve as a substitute for medical or professional advice. The Society for Women’s Health Research does not make medical, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations, nor does it endorse or promote specific screening or diagnostic tests. Patients and consumers should confirm information and consult a professional health care provider to determine individual needs. The Society will not be liable for any direct, indirect, or other damages arising therefrom.

This material was created by the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) and is intended to serve as a public educational and informative resource. This material may be cited or shared on external channels, websites, and blogs, with attribution given to SWHR, or printed and displayed in its original formatted version. SWHR encourages the sharing and reposting of its content in order to spread awareness around women’s health issues. For specific questions about sharing SWHR content, please reach out to communications@swhr.org.

Sponsor

SWHR’s Fertility Program is supported by an educational sponsorship from Guerbet. SWHR maintains editorial control and independence over educational content.