Egg freezing should not be offered for 'social reasons', says ASRM
US fertility doctors have issued new guidelines recommending that women should not be able to freeze their eggs if there are no health indications for doing so...
News
Acupuncture may reduce the success of IVF
By MacKenna Roberts: Contrary to the widely held belief that acupuncture enhances a woman's chances of successfully becoming pregnant whilst undergoing IVF treatment, a study at the University of Oklahoma found that women who combine acupuncture and IVF were 37 per cent less likely to conceive than those who underwent...
Scientists question the use of fertility hormone injections
By MacKenna Roberts: New research found that hormone injections to achieve pregnancy do not 'provide any added benefit' financially or medically in women under 40 as an alternative infertility treatment before advancing to IVF, announced head researcher Dr Richard Reindollar, from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre in New Hampshire, last week...
An alternative use for unwanted IVF embryos?
The prospect of being able to store your own stem cells as a form of future 'biological insurance' is for many, very tempting. Since the late 1990s, and in spite of the reportedly low odds that they will ever be used, parents have seized the opportunity to...
US embryo stem cell policy update
A provision contained in a US Senate appropriations bill that would have expanded federal funding for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research has been dropped after President Bush threatened to veto the legislation. Senators Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter said that they were willing to 'compromise' and...
Comment
The burden of choice - the parental perspective on antenatal genetic testing
by Jane Fisher
As we approach the 40th anniversary of the 1967 UK abortion law, later abortions have come under particular scrutiny as calls are made for a reduction in time limits. Many of the (relatively few) terminations that occur after 20 weeks are after a diagnosis of fetal abnormality. The UK charity...