Over 61,000 babies were conceived via IVF in 2012, which means 1.5 percent of America’s 3.9 million births that year were ushered in that way. It was the biggest year for IVF on record, and those numbers are the culmination of a rising trend over the last ten years.
There's a popular perception that, in this day and age, infertility treatments like IVF are as common as can be—thanks in no small part to our much-lamented desire to have it all and delayed baby-making. That's not quite the case, though: The number of women seeking help for infertility has actually dropped.
New research into In Vitro Fertilization success rates has revealed a curious trend: white ladies are more likely to successfully become pregnant as a result of the procedure than women of other ethnic backgrounds, and scientists say they can't figure out why. It's a white mystery, not unlike that confusing flavor of…
And I use the term "mutant" as X-Men's Magneto would: a superrace that will eventually dominate the rest of humanity. Sort of. Britain has given the OK to "three-parent" fertility treatments that would implant genetically modified embryos into women in order to avoid passing on incurable diseases to their children.
We've been thoroughly enjoying Orphan Black, BBC America's show about a young woman who discovers, to her shock, that she's a clone. But what if, instead of being an orphan with no knowledge of her genetic heritage, Sarah was raised by loving parents? How might they try to ensure she grew up to be a happy and fully…
People try to sneak lots of miscellaneous contraband into prison, but how often do they try to sneak things that aren't people out of prison? Almost never, probably because the whole point of prison is that it doesn't have anything that anyone wants, except, in the case of Israeli prisons holding Palestinian prisoners, …
Visiting the websites of fertility clinics could bring up pages of smiling babies, happy families, and convincing statistics of the "miracles" provided by those clinics. But a new report—that studied the websites of 372 fertility clinics in the United States registered with the Society for Assisted Reproductive…
The invasive nature-not to mention the emotional pressure-of in-vitro fertilization on a couple's relationship can cause some strain in the bedroom, says Health Day via U.S. News and World Report. An Indiana University study examined the questionnaires of 270 women, 127 couples using IVF and 70 doctors, nurses and…
Science has perhaps enabled women to press the snooze button on their biological clocks. A new, "potentially revolutionary" approach to IVF treatment gives women in their early 40s the same chance of pregnancy as those a decade younger, according to researchers at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.…
Soup Not-si Paul Ryan may believe that human life begins at conception, but that view isn't quite as popular with the rest of sane America. Or the court system, apparently. After failing to pass Personhood in Mississippi last fall, not a one "Zygotes Are People, Too!" measure will be appearing on any state ballots this…
In the run-up to an election, it's not uncommon for special interest groups to release ads pushing a specific agenda in the hopes of swaying voters as they head to the polls. But only once in a generation does a social awareness ad reach the heights of hyperbole-murdering crazy reached by this anti-contraception…
Who knew that "Every Sperm is Sacred" would be an anthem of the now-inevitable nadir of the abortion debate? Case in point: Evangelical couples doing their part to save babies by adopting... other couples' frozen embryos. And then unfreezing the embryos, implanting them in evangelical wombs, giving birth to them, and…
After years of being conditioned by Gordon Ramsay's profanity-laden rants that fresh is always better than frozen, it comes as a bit of a shock that a reality TV chef's wisdom about food doesn't hold true when it comes to assisted reproductive technology. Anyway, according to a new study regarding IVF treatments,…
It's really too bad that the word FAIL emblazoned across a picture of something failing miserably has become a cliche, because America's floundering but tenacious Personhood movement is perfectly suited to be meme-ified. In 2008 and 2010, voters in Colorado rejected a Personhood amendment that would have defined human…
Research by Louise Stewart at the University of Western Australia shows that there may be a link between early in vitro fertilization and breast cancer later in life, thanks to the collection of data on 21,025 women between 20 and 40 between 1983 and 2002.
File this under "Future Very, Very Rich People Problems" — a British medical panel ruled today that a method of in vitro fertilization that seeks to eliminate inherited genetic diseases by introducing a third set of DNA to the mix is ethical as long as it's safe and effective. And as long as all parties agree on genetic…
It used to be that asking your friends, or even strangers, to give you money was considered gauche. Sure, they might donate to your political campaign, or they might pledge some money toward the charity of your choice in exchange for you running a marathon. But you'd never ask them to help pay for your rainbow-themed …
Well, thank goodness that's settled. The Supreme Court ruled today that children conceived via in vitro fertilization after the death of a parent aren't automatically entitled to that dead parent's Social Security benefits, as they're not technically "survivors," because they're not "natural children" as defined by state…
Even when they end in the desired outcome of pregnancy, fertility treatments are complicated and carry certain risks. No, we're not talking about the risk of creating your own version of John & Kate Plus 8, though that is a possibility; we're talking about the fact that babies conceived using in vitro fertilization have …
It's less terrible day than usual to be a uterus (or, if you want to get technical, "woman," or "baby holder") in the West South Central United States today. Earlier, a federal judge ruled that Texas' law to exclude Planned Parenthood from its Women's Health Program was unconstitutional. And now, like a frustrated dad…
