Click here to read Reproductive Technologies 101, an overview of reproductive technologies

Superovulation procedures and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have provided the means for significant improvement in infertility care. Although generally safe, these procedures are associated with complications that, albeit rare, can have significant morbidity. Complications from superovulation include ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, thromboembolism, and adnexal torsion. Complications from oocyte retrieval include infection, bleeding, bowel injury, and anesthetic complications. Early pregnancy complications from in vitro fertilization include multiple gestations, ectopic pregnancy, and heterotopic pregnancy. Stimulation, retrieval, and transfer techniques can be modified to minimize these risks and prevent complications. Further research in the field is needed to continue to improve the safety of superovulation and ART.  (Medscape Today)

The North Carolina legislature is moving to compensate victims of involuntary sterilization, according to a report.  (Politico)

Assembly member Amy R. Paulin (D-88th A.D.), chair of the Children and Families Committee, is introducing The Child-Parent Security Act to update New York law to make it easier to establish parentage in cases of assisted reproductive technology.  (Nyack-Piermont Patch)

FIFTY women who contracted hepatitis C after having abortions at a Melbourne clinic yesterday launched a class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria.  (The Australian)

The New England Journal of Medicine (Volume 366, Issue 19, May 10, 2012) is now available on-line and by subscription only.

Articles include:

• “Reproductive Technologies and the Risk of Birth Defects” by M.J. Davies et al, 1803-1813.

When Martha and Matt Merrill tried in-vitro fertilization at UW Health’s Generations Fertility Care, doctors implanted only one embryo. Daughter Harper was born in April 2011.  (Wisconsin State Journal)

Vejthani Hospital Bangkok recommends a gender selection procedure for a couple who desire to choose a child’s gender at Vejthani ART Center.  (Business Wire)

ALMOST half of South Australians believe embryos left over from fertility treatment should be used for research, a survey has found.  (The Advertiser)

Sex reassignment is an intricate and sensitive physiological, psychological, and social process that usually entails the loss of reproductive capacity. Reproductive technology can prevent this loss, but should it be used for that purpose? A recent case in Israel raises this question.  (BioNews)

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback [official website] has signed a bill [SB 62 materials] allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs that they “reasonably believe” might result in the termination of a pregnancy, his office announced [press release] Monday. Critics of the legislation claim that it will allow pharmacists to refuse to distribute emergency contraception [Kansas City Star report], but supporters claim that the bill was aimed at the abortion drug RU-486 and is only a narrow amendment to a 1969 Kansas law which says that no one should be required to participate in performing an abortion procedure. Four states—Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota—have laws allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraceptives, and three others—Florida, Maine and Tennessee—have refusal measures that do not specifically mention pharmacists. The law will take effect in July.  (Jurist)

Several states, including Kansas and New Jersey, are debating so-called “wrongful birth” laws that would prevent parents from suing a doctor who fails to warn them about fetal problems.  (NPR News)

Camilla Grondahl asked genetics researcher Gholson Lyon a simple, heartbreaking question: Was she carrying a lethal gene that might kill her unborn baby?  Grondahl, 29, didn’t want to terminate her pregnancy, which began in 2010. She just wanted to know what the scientist knew.  (Bloomberg)

A 2011 law that put restrictions on drugs used to induce abortions has been tossed out in Oklahoma County District Court.  The court found that House Bill 1970 is “an unconstitutional law in violation of the fundamental rights of women to privacy and bodily integrity” guaranteed by the Oklahoma Constitution, according to an order issued Friday. (Tulsa World)

The founder of the pro-life movement says for the first time in many years, he has hope that he could see the end of abortion before he dies, because of a bill in Ohio that would outlaw abortion, however supposed pro-life Republicans are preventing its passage.  (Greeley Gazette)

A controversial fertility doctor has raked in £25million in a single year. Mohamed Taranissi and his wife received the colossal sum through their IVF clinic, giving fresh evidence to critics who say that the creation of human life has become a multi-million pound industry.  (Mail Online)

Aggressive fertility treatments practised at IVF clinics in the UK are putting women and babies at risk, experts say.  (The Telegraph)

IVF clinics in the UK are practising aggressive fertility treatments that are putting women and children at unjustified risk, experts say. The commercially driven industry uses unnecessary procedures, high doses of powerful drugs and risky interventions to help desperate couples spending thousands of pounds to conceive.  (Gulf Times)

At the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, a popular destination for women hoping to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs, Dr. William Schoolcraft, the founder and medical director, has started to notice something different: more of the women are arriving with company.  (Post-Gazette)

A large Australian study has found a small but significant increase in the risk for birth defects in babies conceived with assisted reproductive technologies.  (The New York Times)

An Indiana diocese asked a federal court on Monday to reject a lawsuit by a former parochial school teacher who claims she was fired for violating Roman Catholic doctrine by using in vitro fertilization to try to get pregnant.  (GazetteXtra)

Politicians in Australia have been debating whether to change the law regarding the issuing of birth certificates to babies who are stillborn.  (BBC News)