Why Do Women Use Fertility Drugs?

Women use fertility drugs to improve their chances of achieving a pregnancy. The majority of women take fertility drugs to encourage ovulation, the time of a woman's cycle when she is able to get pregnant. In some cases, however, fertility drugs may be used to slow down ovulation or to extend the second half of a woman's cycle.

To Produce an Egg

• Many women take fertility medications to help their bodies produce healthy eggs, as not all women produce an egg every month. This is called an anovulatory cycle. Clomid and Serophene, two of the leading fertility medications, work by stimulating hormones in the brain. These hormones encourage the development and release of one or more eggs from the ovaries. With the eggs present, a woman has a better chance of conceiving.

To Encourage Ovulation

• Fertility drugs may also be taken to encourage ovulation. According to Ovulation-calculator.com, the average menstrual cycle for a woman is 28 days, but most women have cycles that last between 24 and 35 days. Some women, however, only ovulate once every two or three months. They are not having anovulatory cycles; their cycles just last considerably longer than normal. Their cycles may also be irregular, lasting 28 days one month and 44 the next, for example. Some fertility drugs are capable of evening out a woman's cycle or by encouraging her body to complete a cycle within a normal length of time. Clomid and Serophene are two of the most common fertility drugs for this infertility issue as well.

To Suppress Ovulation

• If a woman is scheduled for in vitro fertilization or another assisted reproduction method, it may be necessary to suppress her ovulation. For example, if a woman is scheduled to ovulate, but will not be able to attend an appointment to have her mature eggs collected, she may be put on a medication to temporarily prevent ovulation. The eggs can be collected a few days later. This type of medication may also be used if the couple trying to conceive will be separated (due to work or other reasons) during a woman's normal time to ovulate. An example of a fertility drug that slows down ovulation is Lupron.

To Lengthen the Luteal Phase

• Fertility drugs are also taken to slow down the second half of a woman's cycle, called the luteal phase. According to Ovulation-calculator.com, the second half of the cycle is when the egg, if fertilized, travels down the fallopian tubes and into the uterus. From there, it embeds itself into the lining of the uterus, which is normally shed when no fertile egg is present. This results in a woman's period. The luteal phase usually lasts 14 days in almost all women. If a woman gets her period before this point, the egg may not have had enough time to implant and send the signal for the body to not shed the lining. For women who menstruate before 14 days after ovulation, fertility drugs can help slow down the second half of the cycle. This will give the fertilized egg enough time to attach to the woman's uterus.

Other Reasons

• The majority of women who require fertility drugs start them after one year (six months if they are in their 30s) of trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant. However, if a woman has had difficulty conceiving in the past, she might be put on a prescription within a month or two of trying to conceive a second time. A woman may also be put on fertility medications if she is preparing to donate an egg or to become a surrogate mother for someone else, which means that another woman's fertilized egg will be implanted in her uterus, allowing her to carry the other woman's child to term and then give birth.