June 9, 2025
(New York Times) – Screening can now determine their risk for an ever-growing list of conditions — including ones we can’t do much about. Today, that panel checks for unusual bio-markers that may indicate a rare but treatable disease like … Read More
June 5, 2025
(Ms.) – In 28 states, if you’re pregnant, the government can ignore your end-of-life wishes—no matter what you’ve written. Reproductive freedom advocates filed a lawsuit, Vernon v. Kobach, on May 29 challenging the constitutionality of a Kansas law that automatically invalidates a person’s end-of-life treatment … Read More
June 5, 2025
(MIT Tech Review) — Brian Armstrong, the billionaire CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, says he’s ready to fund a US startup focused on gene-editing human embryos. If he goes forward, it would be the first major commercial investment in … Read More
May 28, 2025
(NPR) – A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer, obesity, autism, bipolar disorder, even celiac disease. These conditions are informed by many genetic variants and environmental factors … Read More
May 28, 2025
(BBC) – “When we arrived, the miscarriage had already started.” One of their twins was stillborn and the other died a few hours after birth. Mohamed says there were no incubators for premature babies available. “Everything was gone in a … Read More
May 28, 2025
(Axios) – President Trump’s imminent plans to issue a White House report promoting in vitro fertilization has spurred anti-abortion conservatives to call for new guardrails that could greatly limit the use of the treatment. Why it matters: Medical groups and … Read More
May 27, 2025
(Associated Press) – U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts. In a 58-second video … Read More
May 27, 2025
(The Guardian) – Case of man carrying rare genetic variant fuels calls for limit on number of children that can be fathered by one donor The sperm of a man carrying a rare cancer-causing mutation was used to conceive at … Read More
May 26, 2025
(MedPage Today) – Despite my medical credentials, my concerns were dismissed. It took my husband calling my doctor directly to save my life. I was hemorrhaging internally, requiring multiple blood transfusions and a 2-week hospital stay. My family feared they … Read More
May 23, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – You may not be familiar with Tie, but she’s no stranger to the public spotlight. A former Thiel fellow, she is a partner in the attention-grabbing Los Angeles Project, which promised to create glow-in-the-dark pets. Over … Read More
May 21, 2025
(Wired) – The 25-year-old died after authorities say he bombed a Palm Springs fertility clinic. Experts warn that online nihilism is fueling similar violence in the US and Europe. Since the attack, Bartkus’ digital footprint has surfaced, including writings and … Read More
May 20, 2025
(NBC News) – Convenience stores are aptly named. They’re stocked with essentials people need at all hours of the day or night, everything from a quart of milk to a package of condoms. But they haven’t stocked contraception for women. … Read More
May 20, 2025
(Associated Press) – Investigators on Monday were combing through the writings of a 25-year-old man believed responsible for an explosion that ripped through a Southern California fertility clinic over the weekend. The FBI identified Guy Edward Bartkus as the suspect … Read More
May 19, 2025
(New York Times) – Trump aides have discussed requiring insurers to cover the procedure, though one leading medical group says it has been shut out of the process. Infertility doctors and other leaders in the industry, along with representatives of … Read More
May 19, 2025
(New York Times) – The explosion on Saturday morning, which occurred in or near a vehicle less than a mile from downtown Palm Springs, Calif., was “an intentional act of terrorism,” the F.B.I. said. Mr. Davis said that the bureau … Read More
May 19, 2025
HEC Forum (vol. 37, no. 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
May 16, 2025
(NPR) – At least 17 clinics closed last year in states where abortion remains legal, and another 17 have closed in just the first five months of this year, according to data gathered by ineedana[dot]com. That includes states that have … Read More
May 16, 2025
(NPR) – A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain dead after a medical emergency has been on life support for three months to let the fetus grow enough to be delivered, a move her family says a hospital … Read More
May 15, 2025
(NPR) – Since abortion became nearly entirely illegal in Texas in 2021, the state has seen a significant rise in the number of women who die in pregnancy or after giving birth. A group of bipartisan lawmakers in the state … Read More
May 14, 2025
(Washington Post via MSN) – An emboldened fringe movement is breaking with the antiabortion establishment by pushing for women who get abortions to face criminal charges, a departure from decades of “pro-life” tradition. The “abortion abolitionist” movement wants to see … Read More
May 8, 2025
(NPR) – In the new book, Second Life: Having A Child In The Digital Age, Hess writes about how technology shapes every aspect of parenting — from our online identities to the pressures of sharing our lives in real-time. “I … Read More
May 6, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Eight states — New York, Maine, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — have passed laws since 2022 to protect doctors who mail abortion pills out of state, and thereby block or “shield” them … Read More
May 5, 2025
(New York Times) – The Trump administration on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone — taking the same position as the Biden administration in a closely … Read More
May 5, 2025
(Financial Times) – As more people enter their late thirties and forties without a long-term partner, within that group is a growing demographic — mostly women — choosing to embark on parenthood alone. The number of single patients undertaking fertility … Read More
May 5, 2025
(Washington Post via MSN) – Three years after a leak revealed the Supreme Court’s thinking ahead of a decision overturning abortion rights, the issue’s preeminence has faded into the background of an American political landscape transformed by President Donald Trump. … Read More
