The UK is Importing American Sperm to Deal With Shortage

There is a sperm drought looming over the UK, and they're facing some issues keeping up with the demand. It is believed that donor numbers have dropped since 2005, when donors no longer had the right to anonymity (children who were conceived by way of a donor can now legally ask for the identity of their donor at age…
Joe Francis' Girlfriend Pregnant With Genetically-Modified Twin Girls
In what is one of the creepiest and most disturbing pregnancy announcements of all time, Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis and his girlfriend Abbey Wilson said they opted for IVF because they wanted to choose the sex of their babies so that people will finally just fucking get it already that he "loves, respects and…
Would You Customize Your First Born Child?
The recent announcement by a British medical ethics board in favor of an experimental three-parent IVF treatment—wherein the genetic material from three donors, not the usual two, is used to create a fetus—and has once again stirred the pot of reproductive controversy. So where exactly is the line between prenatal…
The Number of Women Hitting Up Infertility Services Has Dropped
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.
White Women Are More Likely Than Other Races To Succeed At IVF
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…
Three-Parent Mutant Babies Coming Soon to the U.K.
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.
How to raise cloned children without totally screwing them up
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…
Daring Sperm Smugglers in Palestine Brave Israeli Jails, Implausibility to Get Pregnant
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…
Many Fertility Clinics Use Questionable Marketing Techniques Online
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…
Today In Unsurprising News, IVF Can Make Sex Less Sexy
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…
New IVF Methods Double Success Rates, Freezing Eggs No Longer Considered 'Experimental'
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.…
No 'Personhood' Amendments Will Appear on Any Ballot this Election Day
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…
'Birth Control Is Turning the Men Gay!' 14 Lessons from the Most Bizarre Anti-Contraception Video Ever
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…
Embryo Adoption: This Is Really a Thing That Is Happening
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…
Frozen Embryos Superior to Fresh Ones for IVF
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,…
Embryos Before Hoes Advocates Want Supreme Court to Declare that Fertilized Eggs are People
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…
Are Genetic Ménages à Trois the Future of In Vitro Fertilization?
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…
