Fertility Fantasies

A lot of things that doctors say about childless women just aren't so, thinks British Gynecologist John Stallworthy. He studied the first 1,000 women who went to Oxford's Fertility Clinic (founded in 1943), reported his findings in the issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire that reached the U.S. last week:

P: Too many doctors take credit for nature's work in restoring fertility in their patients.

P: Some gynecologists blame blocked Fallopian tubes (which carry eggs from the ovary to the uterus) for infertility in 26% to 50% of their cases. Not so, says Dr. Stallworthy. He found "apparent blockage" in 21.6%, but reduced that to 12.8% by such antispasmodic (relaxing) drugs as nitroglycerin, later lowered the rate to 9% in a smaller series of cases. Some of the blocking reported by other doctors is due, he thinks, to temporary spasms caused by their own instruments. Spasms caused by emotions may cause blocking in other cases. He suggests: "Is it not probable that a woman may deprive herself of the conception she desires because of the very strength of her desire, or the fear of it?"

P: In one group of 581 married women complaining of sterility, 5% were virgins who had no idea that there was anything amiss.* These "somewhat startling figures" should awaken doctors to the need of giving better guidance on sexual matters, "even though it is much less dramatic than performing plastic operations of varying degrees of ingenuity on already disorganized Fallopian tubes."

P: In fixing the blame for sterility, too many doctors (most of whom are men) still ignore the male's role. Dr. Stallworthy found defective male secretions at fault in 35% of his cases, defective ovulation in only 28%.

* In Baltimore courts recently, medical testimony helped two unmarried mothers who were virgins (their hymens were unruptured at the time of conception) to get financial support for their children.

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