THE IMPACT OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTION ON SELF-PRESERVATION BEHAVIOR OF THE POPULATION
Authors:   Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population — Branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, Rusanova Nina 
Published: October 2024

Significance. The introduction of assisted reproductive technologies based on in vitro fertilization into public health practice eliminates the direct impact of reproductive pathologies on individual childbearing, yet raises questions about which elements of reproductive health have the greatest impact on decision-making about giving birth to a child and how their role in self-preservation behavior is changing. The purpose of the study is to identify the main directions of the influence of modern methods of assisted reproduction on self-preservation behavior of the population. Material and methods. Based on open data from official and sectoral Russian and foreign statistics, as well as materials from Russian and English-language scientific publications, the analysis of the main indicators characterizing changes in self-preservation behavior under the influence of assisted reproductive technologies was carried out. The use of secondary sociological information and certain results of the current author's survey of medical university students made it possible to determine the prospects of assisted reproduction as an external factor of reproductive health. Results. A generalizing characteristic of reproductive health disorders is infertility, while assisted reproduction based on in vitro fertilization has been the most effective method of correction for almost half a century. Continuous improvement of assisted reproductive technology programs has made them a modern factor of self-preservation behavior, creating opportunities for the birth of healthy children not only in case of infertility, but also in case of subfertility against the background of chronic non-communicable diseases, as well as in case of inhibition of reproductive function after cancer treatment. As the availability of assisted reproduction programs expands, they began to be used as an alternative conception and have even indirectly influenced contraceptive behavior, leading to the choice in favor of comfortable, yet previously considered irreversible, sterilization. This determines the social and medical prospects of assisted reproductive technologies, however, an obstacle to their practical implementation may be the cost, which in Russia far exceeds the financial standards of in vitro fertilization under compulsory health insurance. Conclusion. The study showed the main current trends and extended scope of the impact of assisted reproduction on self-preservation behavior. Due to decrease in the number and health deterioration of the health of the population of reproductive age, a decrease in the birth rate becomes an urgent national challenge, which increases the importance of births that are impossible without the use of assisted reproductive technologies. This is especially important against the background of the increase in non-communicable diseases, leading to subfertility, and “social infertility” without reproductive pathologies, which are successfully corrected with in vitro fertilization. However, the commercialization and information popularization of assisted reproductive technology programs create inflated expectations among a certain segment of the population who expect to become parents at any age, regardless of health status. There are new requirements for official justification of indications and contraindications to in vitro fertilization, on the one hand, and for a more accurate account of individual reproductive capabilities of self-preservation behavior, on the other.