April 28, 2025
(The New Yorker) – When the writer Amanda Hess was twenty-nine weeks pregnant with her first child, her doctor, looking at an ultrasound, “saw something he did not like.” He suspected a rare genetic condition; Hess underwent an amniocentesis and … Read More
April 28, 2025
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (vol. 46, no. 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 24, 2025
(NBC News) – Attorney General Pam Bondi said existing U.S. laws against female genital mutilation prohibit doctors from providing certain care to transgender youths. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo this week seeking to further curtail access to transgender … Read More
April 23, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Social and economic challenges have prompted some women to forgo or delay having children Births in America hovered near record-low rates last year. More than 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2024—a less … Read More
April 23, 2025
Journal of Medical Ethics (vol. 51, no. 4, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 22, 2025
(New York Times) – Neuroscientists have learned that estrogen is vital to healthy brain development but that it also contributes to conditions including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. Changes in estrogen levels — either from the menstrual cycle or external sources … Read More
April 22, 2025
(New York Times Magazine) – Social media became a place of both solace and torment. How much was mine to share? The urge to consult my phone overpowered me. I could already perceive how it was mediating my relationship with … Read More
April 22, 2025
(TechCrunch) – In recent years, focus on career and delayed marriage age is driving some women to consider preserving their fertility through egg freezing. But the steep cost of the procedure, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 per attempt, means many … Read More
April 22, 2025
(Axios) – President Trump has called himself the “fertilization president,” but DOGE-directed cuts this month decimated Centers for Disease Control staff who track the safety, cost and outcomes of the nation’s fertility clinics. Why it matters: The CDC had been … Read More
April 21, 2025
(Axios) – The professional association for OB-GYNs is recommending a shift in the way prenatal care is delivered, away from a dozen or more office visits to a more individualized approach built around social needs and patient choice. Why it … Read More
April 21, 2025
(New York Times) – Baby bonuses and menstrual cycle classes are among the ideas pitched to Trump aides as they consider plans to try boosting the birthrate. The White House has been hearing out a chorus of ideas in recent … Read More
April 16, 2025
(Axios) – The number of clinician-provided abortions in Florida declined last year more than in any other state, according to a new analysis. Why it matters: The data shows just how much the six-week ban that went into effect last … Read More
April 15, 2025
(New York Times) – The numbers raise concerns about the risk of genetic anomalies as those children eventually seek partners and give birth. Somewhere in the Netherlands, there are men who have unknowingly fathered dozens of children through sperm donation. … Read More
April 11, 2025
(NBC News) – After his niece took an over-the-counter DNA test, McMahon learned that he wasn’t actually related to his family at all. It was his sister Carol Vignola who first learned about the DNA test results and did some … Read More
April 10, 2025
(New York Times) – During a recent five-year period, a substantial portion of maternal deaths in America — almost one-third — took place more than six weeks after childbirth, at a time when most new mothers think they are in … Read More
April 10, 2025
(WSJ) – Early last year, this quiet city in central China started offering serious cash incentives for couples to have more children, up to around $13,000 for a second child and $23,000 for a third. Births surged 17% for the … Read More
April 10, 2025
(Australian Broadcasting Co) – Monash IVF has apologised after a woman unknowingly gave birth to a stranger’s baby after the wrong embryo was transferred. The major fertility company became aware of the mix-up in February after the birth parents asked … Read More
April 10, 2025
(New Scientist) – A baby has been born after being conceived via IVF performed by a machine, with a medical professional merely overseeing the process In one step, the machine uses an AI model to select the healthiest sperm cells … Read More
April 10, 2025
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 392, no. 11, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
April 8, 2025
(New York Times) – While it was known that some staff members devoted to H.I.V. prevention in other countries had been lost, The New York Times has learned that all such experts have now been terminated or are awaiting reassignment … Read More
April 8, 2025
(New York Times) – If the current legal landscape when it comes to embryos seems messy, it’s a result, in no small part, of the unsettled nature of what preceded it. For over a century, courts generally did not grant … Read More
April 7, 2025
(BBC) – A “miracle” baby girl has become the first child in the UK to be born to a mother using a donated womb. The baby’s mum, Grace Davidson, 36, was born without a functioning uterus, and received her sister’s … Read More
April 7, 2025
(The Independent) – A quote from James after the publication of his caffeine study neatly underlines how Oster’s attitude diverges from the attitude of the medical establishment: “Certainly, there is no evidence to suggest that caffeine benefits either mother or … Read More
April 4, 2025
(New York Times) – A growing body of evidence now shows that cannabis is destructive to male fertility. Experts have long known that tobacco and alcohol use can impact male fertility. And since at least the 1970s, researchers have suspected … Read More
April 4, 2025
(BBC) – The US couple, aged 37 and 38, ardently believe that the world needs to have more babies or risk civilisational collapse. They have become the poster children for pronatalism, a movement that believes falling birth rates are a … Read More
