Women blinded to risks of infertility

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Colleges are failing to educate young women about reproductive risks that endanger their chances of ever bearing children, Dr. Miriam Grossman says.

Most young women have "no idea how much fertility declines with age," said Dr. Grossman, a psychiatrist and counselor at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Campus health centers and women's studies programs have encouraged an "ignorance of basic female biology," she said in a presentation this week at the National Press Club sponsored by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute (CBLPI).

"There is so much focus on preventing pregnancy ... a vital truth is being lost," Dr. Grossman said, citing medical studies about age-related infertility, especially the sharp decline in women's fertility after age 30. Young women are being "lulled into a false sense of security" about these risks, she said, even as "the offices of fertility clinics are full" of women in their 30s desperately hoping to conceive.

News accounts about celebrities who give birth in their 40s and coverage of treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) have created "unrealistic expectations" about delayed motherhood, Dr. Grossman said. In fact, the success rate for IVF at age 39 is only 8 percent, she said.

While feminists and pro-choice groups such as Planned Parenthood emphasize the importance of "complete and accurate information" in sex education, Dr. Grossman blames "politically correct thinking" for the failure to inform young women about "the risks of delaying parenthood indefinitely."

"We don't want to acknowledge that our biology is different from men's," said Dr. Grossman, who recently became a senior fellow at CBLPI, a conservative women's organization. She is author of "Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student."

The book was published anonymously last year, Dr. Grossman said, because the very environment the book described meant it might hurt her career at UCLA. The book has been reissued in paperback with her name on the cover.

The institute will co-sponsor speaking appearances by Dr. Grossman at colleges nationwide, said Jessica Cantelon, a spokeswoman for the organization.