Infertility and Ethnicity

The notion of 'access' implies that there is a certain need, demand and supply of a product or service. A more appropriate term when discussing ART's is an 'equitable service'(Culley). This is defined as a service that provides equal access for an equal need. When looking at the 'needs' of individuals seeking reproductive technology services, a discerning factor is the race of the individual. Data from a national survey found that 10.5% of Blacks, 13.6% of Hispanics, and 6.4% of Caucasians reported infertility out of 10,847 women (Jain, 2006). But does this match the social stereotypes of family sizes? In the media, black and hispanic families consist of multiple generations with multiple children, which most definitely play a part in the common notion that black and hispanic females may be more fertile than whites. Because of this stereotype of fertility, many would argue that blacks and hispanics have this limited cultural access to ART due to the stigma of being infertile. 

I don't think that this is something that we can deliberately change, but it is interesting to see how jokes, pictures, tv shows and the news can portray one set of racial ideals that may be making it taboo for women of some races feel comfortable to use ART.