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Fertility in the Media

By Kelly Burgess

is not targeted to infertile couples per se; rather it's targeted to the niche market between those who would buy bridal magazines and those who would buy pregnancy magazines. In other words, couples who are just thinking about starting a family. It was founded in 2004 by Kim Hahn and Robert Clarkson as a result of their own journeys through infertility. Now a proud adoptive parent, Hahn is still amazed at how little she knew about the process of conception when she first decided to try to start a family.

"I was very educated, had three degrees and was very high up in the banking world and yet knew nothing about conception beyond the absolute basics," she says. "When I talked to my girlfriends, I found that they didn't either. We just assumed [pregnancy] was going to happen."

Hahn credits much of that ignorance to the fact that our society is so focused on preventing pregnancy in young people, but less committed to education about conception and fertility issues. As a result, many couples don't realize that pregnancy doesn't happen as easily as they have been led to believe.

"I started Conceive because I believe we need to start talking about fertility as a process when girls are 18 years old, not waiting until they're in their 30s and are ashamed because they can't get pregnant," she says. "I relate it to the same shift we've seen in how our society now accepts a pregnant woman at all levels, wereas they used to have to hide away as soon as they started to show. That's the switch that needs to happen with fertility."

Want to see more?

• Fertility Awareness: What You Should Know and Why You Probably Don't
• It's About Time! Knowing the Best Time to Conceive
• The Right Timing: The Art of Tracking Your Fertility
• Talk about it!