Why learning about assisted reproduction is relevant to high school students

Ten Reasons

After I give a lesson on human reproduction, I ask the students if the material was relevant, and if so, how? And if not, why not? Some always respond that talking about fertility is totally irrelevant - that there is no reason to talk in high school, about something that won’t impact them until they are much older. Fair enough. But, I always push them a little bit.

Reason #1: Every student is included in the explanation

Is it possible that when we talk about fertility, it isn’t about their future fertility, it’s about them better understanding the here and now. For example, maybe its more about understanding how their donor-conceived classmates got here (so their donor-conceived classmates don’t have to do the explaining themselves)? Even though some students still aren’t convinced, I think about the donor-conceived students sitting in my classes who have been explaining this stuff since kindergarten.

The following comment from a student summed it all up: “I found it very relevant because I was born with an egg donor and it was nice to see my classmates educated about my experiences.” That’s one reason why teaching assisted reproduction is necessary and worth it

Reason #2: When students who don’t (yet) know they are donor conceived find out the truth

I inform students that many people, especially those born via a cis-hetero-mom-dad, don’t always know that they are donor conceived. I always have to go easy with this one because some of my students have already had this experience or may be experiencing it as I speak.

This parental secret usually has a way of making itself known, often by accident; whether it’s carelessly divulged, discovered through found documents, or uncovered through a DNA test. And when the truth comes tumbling out, it can be painful. Part of why I teach about donor conception is so that these students are prepped for if/when they have a later-in-life discovery. It’s my hope that they will have a working knowledge of third party reproduction, that they will remember a teacher normalizing their experience, and that they will recognize that they are not alone in not having known the truth about their own conception.

When I got a response from a student that simply stated, “I know everything,” I have to think to myself, I sure hope you do. But, I also want you to know that if you later discover new things about yourself, e.g., that you are in fact donor conceived, please remember that there is a whole community of support ready to welcome you with open arms.

Reason #3: When students (or their friends) have to make decisions about freezing gametes

I love to tell the high school students about Alex Powell, who at age 15 had to deal with cancer and make a decision about freezing his sperm. Even though it felt ridiculous to cryo-preserve his sperm at that age, thanks to urging by his step-mom, he did it anyway.

Twenty three years later, Alex and his wife, Vi, used that frozen sperm to conceive their son. I remind the students that they, or someone they know, might be faced with similar decisions as Alex. Armed with knowledge, they can be truly supportive of those they care about, who are having to make some tough decisions or who are going through tough times.

Same goes for those that will deal with infertility, or have friends that will. As a student summed it up, “Thank you very much for the lesson. It's helpful to know in case I or someone I know needs it in the future."

Reason #4: To be LGBTQAI+ Inclusive

If sex education claims to be inclusive of LGBTQIA+ students, doesn’t it need to be inclusive in all topics within human sexuality, including human reproduction? Much of the time, when sex educators talk of the importance of being inclusive, they are referring to discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation.

They are forgetting that there is also a whole other world out there where pregnancies happen with the help of medicine, which impacts lots of LGBTQIA+ families. As a student explains, a more inclusive approach to human reproduction was “A cool break from normal health, definitely relevant and LGBT inclusive, which is cool.”

Reason #5: To understand how human reproduction works for all bodies

Too often, when sex educators and policy makers talk about being LGBTQIA+ inclusive, we still leave out I (intersex) and A (asexual) individuals out of the conversation on human reproduction. One of the things I love about including insemination, IVF, donors, and surrogates is that we are able to talk about human reproduction in a way that is not dependent on anyone’s sex, gender, sexual orientation or anatomy. Students that identify as intersex or asexual are part of the complete picture of how humans create new humans and form family. As a student commented, “I liked the inclusion of asexual couples and individuals and I wish we had touched on that more throughout this [sex ed] unit.”

Reason #6: Because being a donor is so much more than earning some beer money in college

So many students want to know how much they can earn as a donor. When they go to college they'll see advertisements to be surrogates and egg/sperm donors. They think of it as an opportunity to earn a quick buck, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to remind them that being a donor is about so much more.

It’s about creating another human being, a human being who is genetically linked to you. If and when that person wants to know who you are, they will figure it out through DNA testing. So it’s really about potentially welcoming a future relationship with another person - a relationship that might impact your own parents and siblings as well as a future spouse and future children

Most high schoolers can’t even imagine that one day they’ll have to deal with infertility. Though at first glance, a lesson about assisted reproduction feels like it’s a class about their future fertility. By the end, we go through all the previous reasons why the conversation is applicable to them in the here and now. In the end, most of them see each other’s points as relevant to them, but there are always remaining skeptics that feel like I have a hidden agenda: to promote making babies.

Reason #7: When infertility hits, it hits hard

Though I insist that my agenda is overt (see reasons #1-6), perhaps I do have a slightly hidden agenda. But it's not to promote baby-making. It's so that IF they end up dealing with infertility, they don’t have to be piping mad about why they didn’t ever learn about this stuff earlier.

Reason #8: To destigmatize the future

Though many high schoolers will decide later in life that they don't want to have their own family with children, many other students know that they do. Wouldn’t it be downright utopian if the world was destigmatized, so that they felt able to grow their family in any way that felt right for them? As a student acknowledged, “Good presentation. I didn’t know how any of this worked before the presentation.”

Reason #9: So every student’s questions are answered

A student came up to me after class and identified themself as trans-masculine. They thanked me for answering their questions during class about puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgery, and how these medicines/procedures impact future fertility.

I was just as grateful to the student for asking thoughtful, probing questions during the lesson. I'm always grateful for the participants who are willing to ask questions, as many of their classmates are likely to have them as well.

Reason #10: So every student’s family is recognized

My lessons about human reproduction create room for me to talk about all kinds of families; in particular adoption and foster families. I begin the lesson with a discussion about all the different kinds of families in the world, and end with the idea that sometimes we are genetically related to the people responsible for our care and sometimes we aren’t.

Each family gets to decide what to call all the people who help conceive, carry, and parent children: parent, birth or first parent, bio or genetic parent, foster parent, donor and surrogate. So, in expanding the description of human reproduction, we create space to include all kinds of families.