Quieted Voices – My Week at the Family Planning Clinic
A medical student reflects on her time at the family planning clinic, calling for more support and understanding and an end to the harsh and unfair stigma.
Fresh or Frozen Embryos? Equal Live-Birth Rates Among Infertile Women
About 40 years ago (July 1978), Louise Joy Brown was born at Oldham General Hospital in England, weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces. This birth may sound like any ordinary baby story, but the conception and delivery of Louise, the first human conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), symbolized the possibility of having children for women […]
The Wish for a Womb: How Uterus Transplants Can Make Pregnancy Possible
After success in Swedish trials, the first uterine transplant was performed at Cleveland Clinic in the United States this past February. The research in Sweden had shown that these transplanted uteruses could carry babies and produce live births. The often troublesome side effects of having a uterus — namely painful or heavy periods, among other […]
The Life Lottery
One in 292.2 million — those were the odds of winning the recent $1.5 billion Powerball, the largest lottery jackpot ever. As it happens, a few months ago, the medical student class of 2018 was learning about obstetrics, gynecology and reproduction as part of the Genes to Society curriculum, which gave me a newfound appreciation […]
Zika Virus: Where Did It Come From, and How Big of a Threat Is It?
Recently, my inbox has been filled each morning with emails warning about Zika virus. And my clinics have been filled with women wondering what the risks are to them and their unborn babies. Some are even wondering about the risks to future babies, heeding concerns from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting […]