The World Health Organization (WHO) is about to dramatically redefine the meaning of infertility. According to the WHO, infertility is classified as a disability. Now, no longer will it be considered as just a medical condition — even perfectly healthy men and women will be considered “infertile” if they cannot find a suitable sexual partner, The Telegraph reports.
This new definition would classify single people not only as infertile but also as disabled. If labelling people as “disabled” just because they’re single sounds harsh to you, don’t worry. The WHO has a reason for this.
‘An individual’s got a right to reproduce whether or not they have a partner’
In many countries, only infertile couples receive funding for fertility treatments. So this new ruling from the WHO could cause policy-makers to allow single men and women to have the same access to reproductive treatments as people in relationships.
“The definition of infertility is now written in such a way that it includes the rights of all individuals to have a family, and that includes single men, single women, gay men, gay women,” said Dr David Adamson, one of the authors of the new standards. “It puts a stake in the ground and says an individual’s got a right to reproduce whether or not they have a partner.
“It’s a big change. It fundamentally alters who should be included in this group and who should have access to healthcare. It sets an international legal standard. Countries are bound by it.”
Some food for thought
Giving everyone who wants to start a family the opportunity to do so does sounds like an awesome idea. But several critics have come forward with concerns that policy-makers should definitely think about.
Critics of the decision say that couples who are actually medically infertile can be disqualified from IVF if policy-makers like the NHS change their rules. Meanwhile, others have called the decision unethical.
Photo: Pixabay
“This absurd nonsense is not simply re-defining infertility but completely side-lining the biological process and significance of natural intercourse between a man and a woman,” said Josephine Quintavalle from Comment on Reproductive Ethics. “How long before babies are created and grown on request completely in the lab?”
Countries are under no obligation to adopt all of the WHO’s standards, as Jonathan Montgomery, Professor of Health Care Law at University College London told The Telegraph. Until the WHO makes their new definition official, we won’t know how different countries will respond. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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