Racial disparities and socioeconomic status also play a role in infertility as well as the reported use of medical services for infertility. Data from the National Survey of Fertility Growth (NSFG) showed that infertility rates for black (19.8 percent) and Hispanic women (18.2) were much higher than those rates for white women (6.9 percent).The same study revealed that although women of color experience higher infertility rates, they reported having not received medical services for infertility at higher rates than their white counterparts.Greil, A. L., McQuillan, J., Shreffler, K. M., Johnson, K. M., & Slauson-Blevins, K. S. (2011). Race-ethnicity and medical services for infertility: Stratified reproduction in a population-based sample of u.s. women. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(4), 493-509. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146511418236 Socioeconomic status also provides barriers for women who do not have the flexibility to take off work and schedule appointments that higher socioeconomic status women do. Without public or even insurance company funding for these ARTs, this suggest that those in a higher socioeconomic standing should be able to reproduce, while those who cannot afford these treatments should not have the same ability to do so. This notion is furthered by policies such as the welfare reform act of 1996 which denies benefits to children who are born to mothers on welfare. However, race and class disparities in infertility treatment remain even in states that have mandated infertility insurance coverage suggesting that the issue of stratified infertility options go beyond political policies.
