[Reporter’s Notebook] "Public Officials Should Greet and Thank Infertility Patients at Clinic Entrances"

Infertile Couples Determined to Have Children in the Era of Low Birthrate
Government Must Step Up as the Control Tower

"Public officials should express gratitude to infertile couples and even give them 50,000 won each."

During the coverage of the feature article 'Infertility in Gyeonggi Province,' an infertility specialist we met made a "pointed joke." It meant that infertile couples, who are determined to have children despite spending time and money amid the government's frantic efforts to solve the low birthrate problem, deserve to be treated accordingly. He emphasized that just as reservists are excused from work during training, infertility treatment also requires social consideration and active government support.

The reason was that "infertility should not become a penalty in our lives." As Kim Myung-hee, president of the Korea Infertile Families Association, said during the interview, Korea has become a "society that creates infertility." People delay marriage due to fierce competition in finding jobs. Time flies quickly as they save money to establish a stable living environment suitable for raising children. It is undeniable that age is a key factor in fertility. By the time many couples decide to have children, they unknowingly find themselves in line for infertility treatment.

As the number of infertile couples rapidly increases, the government is also introducing measures in response to social changes. The government's support policy for infertile couples, which began 18 years ago, has changed significantly in the past two to three years. The infertility treatment cost support program has expanded its target and scale, and the support entities now include health insurance and local governments. The National Assembly and local city and provincial councils have also enacted infertility-related laws and ordinances. This is likely a response to the needs of those who show a desire for children amid a social atmosphere of "not wanting to have children."

However, as the number of stakeholders increases, the sophistication of infertility treatment infrastructure construction becomes unstable. Like other medical infrastructures, infertility hospitals are concentrated in the metropolitan area. Infertile couples from provinces who seek treatment far from home experience regional medical inequality, but there is no visible policy support to compensate for this. The treatment cost support program, transferred to local governments in 2022, varies depending on the financial situation of each local government. The central government does not even manage statistics uniformly. In the gaps of infertility support policies, infertile couples undergoing treatment suffer physically and financially.

President Yoon Suk-yeol proposed "support for infertile couples" as one of his top 10 pledges during his candidacy. Indiscriminate infertility support scattered here and there will not find a true solution to the low birthrate era. The central government must take the lead as a control tower to structurally resolve the difficulties of infertile couples. Establishing a system and providing qualitative support within the large framework of the government will at least bring the situation one step closer to resolution. To solve the low birthrate problem, which is in a desperate situation that can be called a "disaster," the most urgent needs of infertile couples must be prioritized above all else.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.