020574 Fertility: The other side of the Pill

By JOAN UNDERCOFFLER

Zero Population Growth has been filling the media for years with dire warnings of the consequences of an unchecked birth rate. Current census reports have it that ZPG is nearing its goal with dramatically reduced figures in the United States for 1972 and 1973. Credit for the decline is given to "The Pill" and liberalized abortion laws.

There is another side to this coin, according to Scarborough resident: Dr. Wayne Decker.

As a surgeon -in- chief of the Fertility Research Foundation in New York. City, he sees hundreds W couples each year who are- exploring any avenue that might lead to parenthood.

"There is no reason to deprive a couple of having a child, or two or three, if they want to," Dr. Decker declares. Emphasis, lately has all been on population control, and I am all for that. I worked to liberalize the abortion laws; and I have always counseled on birth control methods.

I feel even more strongly that because the public has been conditioned to birth control, we must give equal effort, sympathy and attention to those who want children and for some reason are unable to have them."

The Fertility Research Foundation is located at 123 E. 89th St., New York City, and according to Dr. Decker is the only non-profit institution of its kind in the country. Its staff of eight gynecologists is complemented by urologists, immunologists, geneticists and genetic counselors, radiologists, sex therapists and counselors, pathologists and endocrinologists, all of whom bend their efforts toward helping a couple conceive and successfully bear a healthy child.

"I become annoyed at the plight of so many couples," Dr. Decker comments. "They go for help to their local doctor who does an evaluation that may or may not be complete. Then he tells them, 'Everything Is all right - go home and keep trying.' If it is all right, why doesn't something happen? It's obvious something is wrong."

About 15 per cent of the, married population is involuntarily childless after a year of marriage, Dr. Decker points out. Of these, 80 per cent have no single overriding cause for their infertility, lie says, but a number of minor aberrations that combine to reduce their "fertility index."

In about 40 per cent of the couples, Dr. Decker estimates, the problem lies with the man. The foundation has had generally good results with artificial insemination, using either the husband's own sperm or those of a totally anonymous donor.

"Our donors are paid and matched carefully from a coded form," Dr. Decker explains. "They are usually medical students and chosen by rigid criteria. We never accept a volunteer donor, and they are never taken from a hospital where I work."

He pointed out that when a husband's sperm count is simply insufficient to produce conception, it is possible to "bank" it until a high enough count is collected. Success rates show about 30 percent with the first insemination.

"We get 50 per cent if they keep at it six months and 80 per cent after a year," Dr. Decker says, pointing out that his reflects fertility rates in the population as a whole.

Much less spectacular, but as gratifying to the couples involved, are the success rates involving women who able to conceive after treatment, either surgical or hormonal. Each case has individual aspects which are determined after a thorough checkup by the Fertility Research staff.

Current research is uncovering numbers of possible factors contributing to infertility. Immunologists have discovered that antibodies can develop In the sperm that destroy them by a mechanism not yet understood, according to Dr. Decker. It Is known, he says, that a woman can become immune to her husband's sperm.

Chromosornal studies by Geneticists are revealing information valuable 4n to prevent miscarriages. Genetics is turning up even more esoteric information that can be useful fertility research. Hand prints contain characteristics that aid in predicting the incidence or possibility of polycystic disease of the ovaries in women, Dr. Decker reports.
Success Is not 1.00 percent, Dr. Decker emphasizes. but when a couple is found to be unable to bear children, they know that every possibility has been explored and they are better able to accept their childlessness. Counseling has also turned up couples who don't really want children, but are simply bending to pressure from family and friends.

"I tell them there's no law that says they should have children," the physician says, "and they're usually Much relieved. "

The Fertility Research Foundation was started 12 years ago by Wayne Decker' s father, Dr. Albert Decker of Bronxville, who still serves as its director.

Wayne Decker joined the staff to help his father carry some of the load and has Since cropped his obstetrical practice to devote full time to the foundation.

"Life is a lot more orderly and less disrupted now." he comments. "Obstetrics has got to be the worst way to make a living. This is a really happy practice.

Patient fees have been enough to support the clinic services of  the ferlility  research foundation. With the growth in research, however, funds are needed to expand its facilities.


Dr. Decker is hopeful that the campaign will be successful.

"People should realize how unhappy and frustrated a couple can be when they want children and can't have them,"he states.