How to Get Pregnant in 2050

A biologist imagines how we’ll use new reproductive technologies in the future

(Fertility does decline with age, but not that precipitously)

(Additional history of IVF)

(CDC report, 2015)

(Statistics from RESOLVE)

(Technically, sperm counts are declining, which may or may not affect fertility; more research is needed)

(Estimates of infertility range from 1 in 6 to 1 in 8 straight couples)

My heart goes out to everyone trying to make a family. It’s a tough journey & I know pregnancy elicits many feelings. While I didn’t enjoy pregnancy, I’m grateful for it, despite the months of nausea, heartburn, etc.

More information about the Biobag.

Note: this part is sci-fi, in case you didn’t get that…

Apple still exists in my imagined future.

And check out this technology in development that lets the non-gestational parent feel the baby kick.

And we return to real life.

More information about how to support friends and family facing infertility.

More information about the sperm pump.

For more information: Intrauterine insemination explained in greater depth.

And bonus, there’s the two week wait — a seemingly never-ending agony — to find out if it worked.

Statistics about IUI success rates.

*Women and people assigned female at birth

For more information: a Discovery Magazine blog summary; and a Nature News video.

More information on the Tilly lab research, the Wu research, as well as related research by another research team. Here’s more information about GFP.

Note: research papers refer to stem cells in the ovaries as “oogonial stem cells” (OSCs) since they’re related to oocytes (aka, eggs). More information about using stem cells in IVF cycles: Time Magazine; New Scientist.

Additional information from the New York Times; Wired; and The Economist.

Previously:

A Cautionary Tale for Old Moms