ABSTRACT
Subfertility is a painful experience, as anyone who has repeatedly tried and failed to have children can tell you. Of married couples in this country who want to have children (government statistics aren’t available for the unmarried), 8.5 percent cannot, either because of a low sperm count, blocked fallopian tubes, lack of a uterus, or some other condition.1 The traditional solution to this problem-adoption-has become increasingly difficult. Single parents are apt to be allowed to adopt only handicapped or older children, which may not be at all what they had in mind. Even the two million traditionally married couples in the U.S. who are subfertile far outnumber the country’s 365,000 orphans: if each couple adopted one orphan, that would still leave 1,635,000 couples without a child.2 Some people travel to countries where adoptable children are more abundant, but this can involve prolonged stays and the payment of high fees to the parties arranging the adoption.
