Nicole Bergen, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Sperm donation websites are the Ubers and Airbnbs of the fertility world. But why are they so popular? New research explains the reasons why some men donate.
For women and men not ready to have children, there are new ways to preserve fertility. And experimental techniques offer hope for sick children whose treatments jeopardize future childbearing.
Conversations about reproduction should be a routine part of medical care for transgender people – but assumptions and non-inclusive language can act as barriers to informed consent.
There are sound ethical reasons behind Canada’s decision to ban payment to surrogate mothers and sperm and egg donors in 2004. A new push to remove the restrictions ignores the risks.
The news that Victorian sperm donor records from the 1970s and 1980s were preserved and are now accessible creates both challenges and opportunities for both donors and their offspring.
Health Canada is drafting important regulations for assisted reproductive technologies. Initial documents treat egg donors and surrogates as little more than spare parts and walking wombs.
Americans have moved on from worrying about ‘test-tube babies’ – but there are still ethical challenges to resolve as reproductive technologies continue to advance.
As the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society urges the government to consider “compensation” for surrogacy, we need to talk about the implications of this rhetoric for women.
In 1997, scientists announced they’d created a healthy sheep cloned from another ewe’s mammary gland cell. Two decades on, the technique is being refined and applied to new challenges.
Our recent audit of success rates provided on the websites of IVF clinics’ in Australia and New Zealand identified some common traps in the way these figures are presented.
In pregnancy, immune cells help the uterus tolerate and nurture the embryo despite it carrying foreign genes from the father. In most women, suppressing immunity will likely cause more harm than good.
In a world first, Victoria plans to retrospectively open the records of formerly anonymous sperm donors to all donor-conceived people. A system of contact vetoes aims to manage the privacy concerns.
Should people who need subsidised medical assistance to conceive have to show the state they will be good parents? This ethicist argues such checks are discriminatory.
The National Health and Medical Research Council call for public submissions on whether sex selection should be allowed without a medical reason recognises changing social attitudes.
Thanks to IVF and donor conception, infertile couples, single women and lesbian couples now have a better chance of starting families. But while common, it’s rarely openly discussed.
Thanks to IVF and donor conception, infertile couples, single women and lesbian couples now have a better chance at starting families. But how does it all work? Ask the experts here.