This is kind of a dark question, but I'm writing a horror story so I suppose that's bound to happen. My MC is a woman who has grown up in abusive relationships, and I want a part of her character to be that she wants to have children, but she can't because she's infertile and her husband refuses to adopt. So could a woman become infertile from being physically abused?
Was it sexual abuse? I've heard of cases where girls were sexually abused to the point that their reproductive organs were damaged. They aren't infertile, depending on how you define the term (like, they still ovulate) but they can't support a fetus. And if the girl got an STI, infertility could certainly result from that. Non-sexual physical abuse? I guess it'd be possible, depending on how bad the abuse was. I mean, a penetrative injury (stabbing or something) would make sense... I'm not sure about blunt force.
Abuse, some diseases, some accidents and occasionally some birth defects can all cause a woman to be unable to bear children, especially if the incident happened before she started menstruating. You could be vague about what happened to her if it's not crucial to your story, refer to it as having happened when she was young or maybe too young at the time to remember the details of it exactly.
Blunt force trauma is possible, but it would also have damaged more than the reproductive system. Resulting in much more debilitating effects to surrounding organs. Can't use a concussive blast from say a bomb, as their entire internal organs would be a thick soup wrapped in a skin bag (and there is no surviving such an occurrence, also kinda gross to visualize a horrible way to die). Perhaps she has suffered a nasty dose of radiation, which could render her reproductive organs non-op. You could make her a genetically altered person, that has been designed to have reproductive organs that are not meant to functions (Kinda of a scary premise if you think about it, as it is technically possible in reality). Perhaps she has undergone an extensive surgery in her younger years, and there was an error that occurred damaging the ovaries or other reproductive parts. She could have been a sex slave in the human trafficking market, and suffered damages from that ordeal before escaping. Maybe she was a spy that got caught by a less than ideal organization that tortured her to such an extent that her reproductive tract is rendered moot. This is the best I can muster before getting into things like alien abduction, and other more outlandish possibilities. So good luck.
It's pretty unlikely, to be honest. Possible in some situations, but unlikely. For instance, my cousin got into a very bad jet skiing accident where the handle of the jet ski happened to penetrate her and damage her internal organs, but she still wasn't rendered infertile. In fact, she has a 2 year old. If you want abuse to be a factor in infertility, it would be more plausible if she was sexually abused by her attacker, became pregnant, and received a botched abortion, rendering her infertile.
How about one of her exs being a serial womaniser who caught chlamydia then gave it to her? Undiagnosed chlamydia, left over time will damage the tubes beyond repair.
Yes, it's possible. Happened to a friend of mine's girlfriend. Her previous boyfriend raped her, and apparently wasn't content with just raping her. The physical damage left her more or less like what Bayview describes: technically not infertile (as in she can ovulate and have her eggs fertilized) but incapable of supporting a pregnancy.
Yes, it is possible to become infertile from abuse, theoretically. A friend was sexually abused by a relative, which brought about pelvic inflammatory disease, and caused her to be unable to have children of her own. It is more of a stretch that a person would become unable to have children due to 'just' physical abuse, but I think in theory, it is possible. Likely? No. I think if I were writing the story, I might write 1.) that the woman no longer wished to have children after being abused, having lost faith in humankind, and went to great lengths to avoid having children. 2.) had children but went to great lengths to avoid having her partner's name on the birth certificate (thereby preventing him from having any power over the children) It is to me very, very plausible that a woman would not want to have children due to fear of getting into an abusive relationship, fear of her spouse taking the children away from her, general bitterness and despair about humankind, etc.
Yes a woman can become infertile from abuse. Any kind of trauma can have an impact on the physiology of a person. So yes it is possible and it doesn't have to be sexual abuse.
I've read a book where the main character gets pushed down the stairs by her husband, leading her to have to have a hysterectomy done.
Most likely cause of infertility by violence would probably be STDs from rape. Chlamydia and gonorrhea can both cause infertility. In many cases they can do it without causing any other symptoms.
In fact, this is a rather complex and controversial question, but as far as I know, a woman can really become infertile as a result of physical impact on her body, but you better ask such questions to experts from fertially. These guys know exactly the answers to such questions, because they have been studying female fertility for a very long time!
My main character lost her period over a length of time from stress. When I did the research to see if that was possible, I found this.... New evidence suggests that stress does affect fertility. A recent study found that women with high levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that correlates with stress, have a harder time getting pregnant. ETA And this ... “When under stress, your body produces cortisol. Depending on how your body tolerates stress, the cortisol may lead to delayed or light periods — or no period at all (amenorrhea),” says Dr. Kollikonda. “If stress continues, you can go without a period for a long time.”
No offense, but you're weighing in on a four-year-old question. OP has probably moved on by now. edit for typo
