From vasectomies to the male contraceptive pill, there have been many attempts to shift the burden of birth control burden onto men. Now one German entrepreneur believes he has the solution – a ‘switch’ to stop sperm from reaching the penis. The valve – which is implanted internally is designed to divert the flow of sperm back to the man’s testicles, making him temporarily infertile. If he later decides he wants a wants to become a father, he simply locates the implant in his scrotum and flicks the switch back, allowing sperm to be ejaculated.
Category: Fertility Clock Headlines
Debate Title Supposed to be Facetious, Says Medical Body in Contraception Row
A debate advertised as a discussion about whether women who want to specialise in medicine should take five-year contraceptives had a “facetious” title, according to the organising committee behind it.
Do Fertility Treatments Cause Cancer?
One of the reasons I was reluctant to start fertility treatment—aside from the astronomical costs—was I was afraid what it would mean to start putting all those chemicals in my body: the hormones to increase my egg production, to make me ovulate, to regulate my cycle. It seemed like a bit much. Especially since fertility is such a burgeoning field in early stages and no one quite knows what the effects will be.
The Hidden Medical Epidemic Few Women Have Been Willing to Talk About, Until Now
When Carmel Price’s mother had an operation six years ago, Price helped her in the hospital but never really knew what the procedure was for. “I heard that she was having ‘reconstructive surgery,’ like that her organs had moved around and they were putting them back where they belonged,” said Price, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan in Dearborn.
Wounded Vets Can’t Get Help With In-vitro-fertilization Costs
U.S. military veterans who are having trouble starting families due to combat injuries do not get financial assistance from the V.A. for in vitro fertilization, leaving couples to pay for the costly treatments themselves. Efforts made in Congress to change that rule have been blocked.
Kids Born Through IVF Show No Higher Risk for Developmental Delays: Study
Preschoolers who were conceived through fertility treatments don’t seem to have any special risk of developmental delays, a new study suggests.
Options Expand for Fertility Preservation
In June, researchers reported the first live birth from a young girl whose ovarian tissue was frozen prior to undergoing disease therapy, and then had an ovarian graft as an adult. After this procedure, she had a spontaneous pregnancy and a healthy delivery.
That Time I Took A “Baby Deadline” Test
It’s less certain what an anti-Müllerian hormone test might offer a woman who’s never tried to get pregnant. Anti-Müllerian hormone levels are a direct measure of the number of eggs a woman has, which is an important part of her fertility. But scientists are just beginning to take a deeper look at whether the results of their anti-Müllerian hormone tests correlate with trouble getting pregnant. Beyond that, doctors must jump through several logical hoops to turn an anti-Müllerian hormone test result into advice for aspiring moms-to-be.
Teen Birth Rate, Multiple Births Reach Historic Low
The number of women who gave birth to triplets, quadruplets or larger sets of babies declined again in 2014, showing a 40 percent decrease since their peak in 1998, according to data released Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number indicates a decline in high-risk pregnancies associated with fertility treatments, though the number of twins born in 2014 increased slightly. The data also show that births to teenage mothers hit yet another historic low, down 52 percent from 1991, and the number of births by cesarean section declined as well.
IVG Represents a Long-Overdue Shift in Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Parents
In the not-so-distant future, same-sex couples may be able to have children that are biologically related to both of them. A recent article in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences outlines a new process known as in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, through which scientists use stem cells—taken from embryos or adults—to create gametes, the technical name for eggs and sperm, regardless of gender. Scientists have already had partial success with IVG on mice, and were able to create offspring that came from a mixture of one gamete created through this new process and one created naturally.