What if we erased the silence and stigma surrounding infertility?

1 in 8: the number of couples of reproductive age who are coping with infertility. Chances are, someone you know is privately struggling with infertility every day, and yet you'd never know it. Think of eight of your closest friends. Who among you would it be? Perhaps it's you, and the thought of ever telling those seven other people is inconceivable.

This week is National Infertility Awareness Week, and I'm trying to do just that: to raise awareness about the emotional impact of infertility and to advocate for increased legislative action on the matter.

I'm writing to tell you now: come out, and become outspoken about your infertility. The public silence surrounding this subject is almost oppressive, and yet, it seems odd when a disease that affects 7.3 million people in this country goes largely unspoken of by the media and our legislative leaders. The online voice is strong: thousands of bloggers, typing out the deepest, darkest corners of their hearts: I should know, I one of them. We are a tight community. We fight for and cry and celebrate with one another.

But who outside of the online adoption/loss/infertility cries and celebrates and fights for us?

To start, there's RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. RESOLVE works tirelessly to continue raising awareness and advocacy for infertility in this country. They speak as the collective voice of the 7.3 million people who may not be able to speak as freely. Yesterday, they lobbied on Capitol Hill with congresspeople and the CDC to come up with a National Action Plan of how the government plans to address an issue that affects not just millions of current citizens but this country's future generations.

And there are elected leaders and state governments that fight for us. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) sponsored the Family Building Act of 2009 in the Senate last year. There are currently 15 states that have laws on the books requiring insurers to provide some kind of coverage for interfility treatments. I'm proud to say I live in the state that leads the way for infertility coverage in the nation when it comes to our state-wide healthcare mandate. But there are those that seek to take this coverage away, such as Arizona. Two bills are now making their way to the Governor that could threaten not only egg donor compensation, but the potential licensure and freedoms of infertility doctors in that state. These bills could effectively end egg donation and severely threate.... Click the link to find out how you can help.

Maybe you are fortunate enough to not have to struggle with infertility. You may be asking:

"Why can't they just adopt?"

"Infertility isn't a real disease; they just need to relax and it'll happen! They don't need to spend all that money."

"But I have children already. What does this have to do with me?"

My answer: because 1 in 8 is someone you know. For more information about the emotional devastation faced by 7.3 million Americans every day, I invite you to please watch the video below. If it so moves you, please share it: repost it on your own blogs, share it on Facebook, tweet it, digg it - just please credit the source and get the word out there.

We don't deserve to live in silence anymore.

What IF? A Portrait of Infertility from Keiko Zoll on Vimeo.

Keiko Zoll is an infertility blogger and advocate based in Boston, MA. To read more about her story, please visit her blog at Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed. You can also follow her on Twitter, @miriamshope.