Judith Shulevitz’s recent New Republic essay on how later parenthood is “upending American society” claims that delaying kids could lead us down a rabbit hole of genetic decline. But the evidence is inconclusive and somewhat anecdotal.
After three kids, two miscarriages, a tubal ligation, and the chance to re-establish intimacy with my husband, did I really give up on my “true nature?” That’s what the religious right says: I am no longer a woman.
Should young women who aren’t ready to have children have their eggs extracted and frozen as an “insurance policy” for future motherhood? Several recent media features seem to be promoting egg freezing, with little or no mention of the risks involved for women who undergo egg retrieval procedures or for the children that might be born as a result.
Reproductive medicine has long been criticized for its commercial aspects — for being more like an industry than a medical practice. Run a Google search for “the baby business” and you will not only turn up Debora Spar’s book, but some 954,000 exact matches. Now lawyers are getting in on the action: It’s not just an industry, it’s (allegedly) a cartel!
LPGA ditches their “female at birth” policy, Speaker John Boehner has some frighteningly invasive anti-choice legislative plans in store for Americans, BPA may be responsible for infertility problems in women and is the Pope inspiring more religious mind expansion as it relates to condoms and birth control?
Nadya Suleman may have been part of a fertility study without knowing it, same sex couples now have full visiting privileges at hospitals that participate in Medicaid and Medicare, a couple places their potential abortion up to a vote and more…
From testing for the onset of menopause to drinking while pregnant, the focus–at least in the media–is on those aspects of research that affect women’s fertility, more than women’s health and more than similar effects on men’s fertility.
There are a lot of myths surrounding reproductive health, and sometimes the myths become bigger than the realities. Now, a few of them have been debunked, while new ones crop up to replace them.
I didn’t expect to say this for some time. I’m pregnant. And I’m terrified.
UPDATED: At first I thought it was a joke. Then I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, scream or call Margaret Atwood. But this morning I opened the paper to read that new iPhone apps allowing men to track the menstrual periods of their girlfriends or wives are flying off the virtual “shelves.”
