Male birth control, like death, is always just around the corner. In 2014, the hope was that Vasalgel, a non-hormonal polymer gel that can be injected into the vas deferens, would hit the market by 2017. But the Parsemus Foundation, the non-profit organization funding Vasalgel, has since revised that projection to 2018, pending successful human trials and “public support.”
Tag: support
Vets Groups Rally Behind Bill to Let VA Provide IVF
A dozen veterans groups and support organizations are rallying behind legislation that would enable the Veterans Affairs Department to offer in vitro fertilization services to veterans with wounds and injuries prevent them from fathering children.
Utah Doctors: Air pollution Harms Unborn, Lowers Fertility
Love is in the air this time of year. But for young couples
looking to start a family, there is something else in the air that may hinder
that pursuit. Recent studies have linked exposure to urban air pollution with
stillbirth, preterm birth, birth defects and low birthweight. City smog is also
tied, physicians say, to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia,
premature membrane rupture and intrauterine growth restriction — a condition
that occurs when the fetus does not receive adequate support from the mother
via the placenta, resulting in extremely low birthweight.
California Considers Funding Controversial Research: Editing Genes in Human Embryos
The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine was created in 2004 to fund stem cell research, after the federal government stopped paying for most experiments with human embryos. Now the state agency is considering underwriting another controversial use of embryos that the federal government won’t support — editing their genes.
To Burn Sugar or Not to Burn Sugar: How Eggs Store Fuel for Embryo Development
Reproduction is highly dependent on diet and the ability to use nutrients to grow and generate energy. This is clearly seen in women, who must provide all the nutritional building blocks required to support a growing embryo. As a result, metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity are closely linked with several female reproductive disorders such as: Infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, and ovarian cancer. However, the precise links between reproductive processes and metabolism remains poorly understood.
New WHO Tool Helps Guide Contraception Choices Following Childbirth
Postpartum women are among those with the greatest unmet need for family planning, yet they often do not receive the services they need to support longer birth intervals or reduce unintended pregnancies and their consequences. Analysis of data from 57 countries in 2005-2013 estimates 32 – 62% of postpartum women had an unmet need for family planning.
Title X: The Lynchpin Of Publicly Funded Family Planning In The United States
The Title X national family planning program was created 45 years ago with broad bipartisan support. Today, Congress has Title X—still the only federal grant program dedicated entirely to family planning and related preventive health care—in its sights for severe funding cuts or even elimination.
Palestinians Pay High Cost to Conceive
According to Aajour, the cost for an IVF is somewhere between $2,200 and $2,500. Referring to the rising number of people resorting to infertility treatment centers in Gaza, he said, “People often look for an IVF at a price that suits them, due to the deteriorating economic conditions in Gaza and the lack of governmental support for families suffering delayed childbearing, in addition to the lack of charities’ support.”
Poll: 70% Favor Legalizing Over-The-Counter Birth Control
The latest Reason-Rupe poll finds 70 percent of Americans favor legalizing over-the-counter birth control pills and patches without a doctor’s prescription, 26 percent oppose such a proposal, and 4 percent don’t know enough to say. There has been a slight uptick in support for OTC birth control, rising from 66 percent in May of 2013. Moreover, Reason-Rupe finds that women across income groups highly support legalizing OTC birth control at about the same rates.
Researchers Call for Easy Access to Contraception
The 2014 annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction began, somewhat incongruously, with a discussion of contraception. With the global population set to top 8 billion in a little more than a decade, clinicians, public-health researchers and some private funders see a pressing need to support work on new contraceptive methods — and to get existing methods into the hands of those who want them.