fertility

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The Lowest Fertility Rate in the World Just Got Lower—Again

Incentives fail to counter South Korea's 'national emergency'

(Newser) - South Korea's "national emergency" of declining births was only exacerbated in 2023 as the world's lowest fertility rate fell further. The average number of babies expected to be born to a woman during her reproductive life fell from 0.78 in 2022 to a new record low...

GOP Has Itself Another 'Hot Potato' After IVF Ruling
GOP Has Itself Another
'Hot Potato' After IVF Ruling
THE RUNDOWN

GOP Has Itself Another 'Hot Potato' After IVF Ruling

Backlash against personhood ruling has begun; one hospital has already halted IVF treatments

(Newser) - On Monday, Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that embryos frozen via in vitro fertilization are to be considered children, in a case where IVF patients had sued after their embryos were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic. Critics are now warning of the "chilling effects" this ruling could have,...

Kim Jong Un Would Like Women to Have More Babies, Please

North Korean leader wants women to step up to stop nation's declining birth rate

(Newser) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said it's the duty of women to halt a fall in the country's births in order to strengthen national power, state media said Monday, as his government steps up the call for its people to have more children. While getting a...

Pope Francis: I Told Off Woman With Dog

Pontiff warns against pets replacing kids amid Italy's demographic crisis

(Newser) - In numerous countries in the EU, birth rates are declining, including in Italy, which could lose nearly 20% of its residents by 2050. Those stats are apparently putting Pope Francis on edge, enough to spur him to warn Italian citizens not to let their anxieties about the future keep them...

Scientists Figure Out the Naked Mole-Rat's Wild Fertility

They aren't like other mammals

(Newser) - Naked mole-rats are an anomaly in more ways than one, and the author of a new study on the creature, which manages to outlive all other rodents, explains why: "They almost never get cancer, they don't feel pain like other mammals, they live in underground colonies, and only...

Popular Period Tracker Says It's Got Users' Backs on Privacy

Flo launches 'Anonymous Mode' to scrub customer identifiers that can aid in abortion prosecutions

(Newser) - As women scramble to delete period and fertility tracker apps from their mobile devices in the wake of last week's Roe v. Wade decision , with fears that data from such apps could be tied to prosecutions over abortion, one of the largest health apps is assuring customers their information...

Woman Uncovers Unbelievable Story About Her OB-GYN

Morgan Hellquist alleges Dr. Morris Wortman is her biological father

(Newser) - When a police officer pulled Morgan Hellquist over for erratic driving, he immediately recognized she was upset and asked what was the matter. "Even if I tell you what's wrong, you're never going to believe me," she recalls saying. In a piece for the Rochester Democrat ...

About to Go on Ventilator, Bride-to-Be Asked for Vaccine

Samantha Wendell, who'd delayed vaccination over fertility concerns, died Sept. 10

(Newser) - Another US woman afraid to get vaccinated against COVID-19 for fear that it would affect her fertility has died of the disease. Samantha Wendell, a 29-year-old surgical technician from Grand Rivers, Ky., was laid to rest earlier this month in a ceremony at an Illinois church where she'd...

In Sperm Donor 'Case Without Precedent,' a $10.7M Deal

Fertility doc accused of impregnating women with his own sperm agrees to settlement

(Newser) - A Canadian fertility doctor who lost his medical license in 2019 after being accused of impregnating multiple women with the wrong sperm—sometimes his own—has now agreed to fork over millions in a "groundbreaking" settlement. The Ottawa Citizen reports that the $10.7 million offer from Norman Barwin...

China Considers Reversing Childbirth Policies

Leaders may go from limiting family size to encouraging population growth

(Newser) - After being told by their government for more than 40 years how many children they can have, the people of China are close to regaining the freedom to decide themselves. The trends in population and birth rate are so worrisome to the nation's rulers that they're working on...

Waitress Who Refused Vaccine Over Fertility Fears Is Fired

Bonnie Jacobson, who's trying to get pregnant, says Brooklyn eatery let her go over her concerns

(Newser) - Though it says the COVID vaccine is "unlikely to pose a specific risk" to pregnant women, even the CDC doesn't know for sure yet about the actual risks. That's why waitress Bonnie Jacobson, who's been trying to start a family with her husband of 16 months,...

If We Can't Solve This Problem, Our Species 'Disappears'

Experts predict crash in births will force societal overhaul

(Newser) - Experts say we'll need to "reorganize societies" to respond to a "jaw-dropping" decrease in the number of Earthlings being born. To keep a steady population, a woman needs to have 2.1 children on average so as to account for infant mortality and childless women. Women were...

New Stat Hints at a 'Demographic Time Bomb'
New Stat Hints at
a 'Demographic
Time Bomb'
THE RUNDOWN

New Stat Hints at a 'Demographic Time Bomb'

Low birth rate, low death rate in China has researchers, economists there worried

(Newser) - There's a "looming crisis" brewing in China, one the New York Times says could eventually have a "seismic effect." Per the country's National Bureau of Statistics, about 14.6 million babies were born there last year, an almost 4% drop from 2018. It's the...

Another Drop in Fertility Rate Suggests Deep Social Change

Births increased among women in late 30s, early 40s

(Newser) - The US fertility rate fell for a fourth year in a row in 2018 to the lowest level in about three decades. The 3,791,712 births—59.1 for every 1,000 women of childbearing age—was down 2% from 2017 and 15% from 2007, according to data out...

He Thought He Was Fathering 5 Kids. So Far, It's 17
Sperm Donor's 'Overwhelming'
Find Leads to $5.25M Suit
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Sperm Donor's 'Overwhelming' Find Leads to $5.25M Suit

Bryce Cleary says he fathered 17 kids, not just 5 like Oregon fertility clinic promised

(Newser) - When Dr. Bryce Cleary was in medical school at Oregon Health and Science University three decades ago, he decided to help people who were having fertility issues by becoming a sperm donor. But he had conditions, including that no more than five children be produced using his sperm; that the...

Fertility Doctor's Harm 'Will Span Generations'

Canada's Bernard Norman Barwin formally stripped of license

(Newser) - A Canadian fertility doctor once known as "the Baby God" has been formally stripped of his medical license after he was found to have used his own sperm to inseminate patients. A discipline committee of Ontario's medical regulator also ordered Bernard Norman Barwin to pay an $8,170...

Male Steroid Use Can Turn Them Into 'Evolutionary Duds'
Guys, Beware the
Mossman-Pacey Paradox
NEW STUDY

Guys, Beware the Mossman-Pacey Paradox

Men who go to extremes to attract mates risk becoming 'evolutionary duds,' suggests study

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered a paradox where men try to make themselves into "pinnacles of evolution" while simultaneously becoming "evolutionary duds." "Isn't it ironic that men go to the gym to look wonderful, for the most part to attract women, and inadvertently decrease their fertility?" says...

What the Egg Donor Brochures Don't Say
What the Egg Donor
Brochures Don't Say
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

What the Egg Donor Brochures Don't Say

It's lucrative for donors, but the side effects can be painful and downplayed by clinics

(Newser) - Stories about egg donations for couples who can't conceive typically focus on the couples. A story at Wired takes a look from the perspective of the donors—think healthy women in their 20s, often college students who are tight on cash. As it turns out, the pay can be...

DNA Tests Reveal What This Doctor Really Did

Jan Karbaat fathered 49 children through his clients

(Newser) - Say your mother's fertility doctor was Jan Karbaat? Then you may have a lot of new half-siblings—and a father who apparently broke the law. Turns out the Dutch doctor betrayed his clients by impregnating them with his own sperm and fathering at least 49 children, the BBC reports....

Bosses Nab Intimate Details on Workers—via Fertility Tracker

Data is so useful, some employees are paid to use Ovia: 'WaPo'

(Newser) - Some of the 10 million users of Ovia's health apps, including women trying to conceive via period tracking and expectant mothers recording everything from bodily functions to sex drive, are sending some of that data straight to their bosses. That's according to the Washington Post , which reports employers...

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