Better word anyone? -- preconception

[javasaurus]

Anybody got a better word for "preconception"?

The word needs to describe a state of being able to get pregnant. It should not imply the desire to get pregnant, just the ability to do so.

Comments

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

"Fertile."

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

(Add to it "female," I guess.)

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

(And the more I think about this, the more I like it. As things stand currently, I am very likely not pre-conception. I see no pregnancy in the foreseeable future of my own volition. I know numerous people who, if they have anything to say about it, are extremely, like failing of several methods of contraception plus an extra circumstance like rape, extremely definitely NOT pre-conception. On the other hand, to the best of my knowledge I am fertile.)

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Your answer does match my criteria, but wouldn't work in the current CDC document. We already have a meaning for "fertility care" which has implications of having trouble getting pregnant.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

The original word was "nubile" meaning a female who had acheived the age of being able to conceive. It has unfortunate connotations however since it has been used salaciously for so long.
One could try "post-menarche" which sounds slightly more scientific, I suppose

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

"post menarche" doesn't work because my grandmother (just turned 90 years old!) is post-menarche.

[rionnkelly.livejournal.com]

I think (been doing waaaaaaaay too much of that lately, it seems) the prefix "pre-" is being much too over used. I mean, we now Pre-board planes, Pre-order books and DVDs---I'm not even gonna wind up and get started on the reproductive connotations.... At first it seemed like just a verbal trick by some clever marketing wonk who wanted to boost sales by making people feel like they were first in line to do or get something. Doesn't anybody get the idea that when a word becomes overused, it loses it's meaning? Now that practically everybody is pre-boarding, pre-ordering and pre-conceving--nobody is getting there "first."

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

I still like fertile and think that the CDC document could work with it (though a more accurate thing would be 'potentially fertile').

Impregnable might work but still has connotations that I would prefer to NOT be in such a document.

Non-senior adult woman?

Maybe a new (and better) word would suffice.

We have menopausal for a woman who no longer cycles. Menstruating has certain specific meanings that should not be diluted by others.

How about Mensal as a new word for the situation. It focuses on the fact that the woman in question does cycle and makes no assumption about the need/appropriateness/inevitability of motherhood.