A 32-year-old woman presents to the clinic with a chief complaint of pelvic pain, excessive menstrual bleeding, dyspareunia, and inability to become pregnant after 18 months of unprotected sex with her husband. She states she was told she had endometrioses after a high school physical exam, but no doctor or nurse practitioner ever mentioned it again, so she thought it had gone away. She has no other complaints and says she wants to have a family. Past medical history noncontributory except for possible endometriosis as a teenager. Social history negative for tobacco, drugs or alcohol. The physical exam is negative except for the pelvic exam which demonstrated pain on light and deep palpation of the uterus. The APRN believes that the patient does have endometriosis and orders appropriate laboratory and radiological tests. The diagnostics come back highly suggestive of endometriosis.
Question:
Explain how endometriosis may affect female fertility.