ABSTRACT
Involuntary childlessness, due to medical, lifestyle, relationship, or sexual orientation reasons is an increasingly common experience affecting millions of individuals worldwide. This chapter discusses the costs and benefits of psychosocial and medical opportunities, challenges, and risks of assisted conception using fertility preservation, surrogate motherhood, gamete or embryo donation, and in vitro fertilisation. The contexts in which the medical and lifestyle factors associated with involuntary childlessness occur, and overcoming these barriers, are explored from within the wider sociocultural, family, and work environments. The evidence presented shows that, with increasing use of technology and innovation to assist individuals to achieve the goal of parenthood, accurate record keeping, monitoring, and human rights need to be at the forefront of these interventions, and allow the resultant children their basic human right to accurate birth and genetic information. The experience of involuntary childlessness and treatment success and/or failures therefore straddle psychological, behavioral, sociocultural, physical, and medical domains, which should be weighted proportionally in research, policy, and practice.
