Over the coming year, Minnesota Public Radio will report on the social implications of infertility, and of the advanced reproductive techniques designed to correct the problem.
Infertility affects as many as ten percent of American couples.
Many regard their situation as an acute medical problem, one largely beyond their control. But for some, there remains a lingering sense of shame and failure at being infertile. That stigma has troubled Americans since colonial times. Women were usually blamed. In this first report, Stephen Smith explores how, historically, American society has treated the infertile.