Older Women freeze their eggs to wait for Mr Right

Failure to find 'Mr Right' is driving growing numbers of older women to put motherhood on ice.
Women in their 30s and 40s, who once would have settled for second best, are freezing their eggs while they continue their search for a man who is father material, British fertility doctors have revealed.

Their plight echoes that of radio presenter and model Lisa Snowdon who recently revealed her worries that she is part of a growing female phenomenon of SAS: single, attractive and successful women who have everything except for a partner.

Miss Snowdon, 38, counts George Clooney among her former beaus but has been single for five years.

Last night, British fertility doctors said contrary to the popular perception, the majority of women freezing their eggs for non-medical reasons are not career hungry but simply unlucky in love.

The youngest woman seen at the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine is 28 - most are in their late 30s. Dr Srilatha Gorthi, a senior research fellow at the clinic, said: 'The come in their 30s or late 30s if they haven't found the right partner.'

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Women aged 40 and over could be given free IVF treatment

The current guidance says all infertile women aged between 23 and 39 should be offered three cycles of treatment for free on the NHS, however few Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) meet this in full.
NICE is currently reviewing the guidelines to make sure that they comply with the Equality Act passed by the previous Government which promised to end many types of discrimination.

Documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph disclose that the rationing body is also considering how to ensure lesbians and single women have the same rights as heterosexual couples for treatment if they are thought to be infertile.

Rules which deny treatment to those whose partners have children are also likely to be axed, according to the minutes from a NICE committee debating the issues.

No decisions have been taken on any of the ideas which are intended to promote "equality of opportunity".

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Sperm donations: Rights of donor offspring to know donors identity

The debate surrounding the rights and welfare of donor offspring has been gaining momentum over the past few years, and a growing number of countries have already banned anonymous sperm donation to ensure the right of offspring to access information about their donors. In the US, however, anonymous donation is not only legal but is still the prevailing norm. With no central registry and no federal or state regulation requiring long-term record keeping, information about donors is kept by individual sperm banks and fertility clinics according to various standards and for different lengths of time.
The outcome of the current situation is that many US donor offspring will never have potential access to information about their donors (either non-identifying or identifying information subject to donor's consent to disclosure). This reality raises serious issues regarding the ethics of denying individuals the right to information about their genetic origins. It also makes it particularly important to collect data on the actual needs and desires of donor offspring, which could provide empirical support for future policy initiatives.

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Dating site offering 'Beautiful baby' virtual egg and sperm

A controversial dating website, with a strict ban on ugly and fat people, has launched what it's calling a 'beautiful baby service', a virtual egg and sperm bank for people who want to have attractive babies.
This same website kicked out 5,000 users in January because other members signaled that they became too chubby celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

Critics are questioning the ethics of the site but those running it are making no apologies.

The site says its "beautiful baby service" is open to everyone. The founder said 'even 'ugly people' would like to bring good looking children into the world. But one British watchdog group says cherry picking pretty people as parents, is just wrong.

"It's a symptom of a very dangerous tendency in our society that says we can take control of everything to do with reproduction and have it exactly the way we want it," said Dr. David King from Human Genetics Alert.

While there is a need for providing a service for single, gay, lesbian and infertile couples to have children, this website seems to be heading towards eugenics and the creation of designer babies, which is very concerning.

Pride Angel the leading website connection service for gay, lesbian, single and infertile couples wishing to become parents said ‘Websites seem to be offering sperm donors services like dating agencies with little thought to the serious consequences of not being aware of all the important factors which need careful consideration, when undertaking donor conception, such as sexually transmitted disease screening, the legal rights of the donor or co-parent and ultimately the right of the child to have information about their donor’.

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Fathers day for Two Dads

Do you ever wonder what father’s day is like in a house with two dads? In a home with gay parents raising children, the emphasis is on Father’s day being about ‘Fathers’ or parents rather than on an individual.
Father’s day in a house with two dads can be an extra special event. The only challenge however, is that when you are celebrating both of your dads on the same day, then father’s day doesn’t actually celebrate either parent as an individual. Instead of being about one parent it is about both parents which makes it more of a family day.

Other challenges which differ in a house with two dads include: which adult does the organising if the children aren’t old enough themselves? How do you make sure both parents feel equally important? How does special attention between parents get divided? For example who makes breakfast in bed if the children aren’t old enough to do it by themselves?

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Research suggests link between IVF and Autism

The first "test tube baby" was born in 1978. With advances in reproductive science, an estimated one percent of all American babies are now born each year through in vitro fertilization (IVF). But IVF and other assisted fertility treatments may be solving one problem by creating another, suggests new evidence from Tel Aviv University.
In a recent study, Dr. Ditza Zachor of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine reported a strong link between IVF and mild to moderate cases of autism. Her findings were presented last month at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia.

According to her research at the Autism Center at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Israel, which Dr. Zachor directs, 10.5% of 461 children diagnosed with a disorder on the autism spectrum were conceived using IVF, a significantly higher number than the 3.5% autism rate in the general Israeli population.

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Test-tube babies 'twice as likely' to suffer birth defects

Test-tube babies are almost twice as likely to suffer birth defects than children born naturally, according to the largest study of its kind.
Babies conceived through IVF have a significantly higher risk of being born with heart problems and malformed reproductive systems than those conceived naturally.

The scientists behind the shocking study called on fertility clinics to routinely warn prospective parents of the dangers - claiming that far too often, they are kept in the dark.

It follows a range of other studies which have found that IVF children are more likely to suffer from cerebral palsy and autism - while boys born through IVF are more likely to be infertile.

More than 120,000 children in the UK have been born using the technique since 1992. For the latest research, scientists carried out a survey of 33 French fertility centres, collecting data on more than 15,000 births from 2003 to 2007.

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First US study of attitudes towards donor conception published

A study into the attitudes of donor-conceived siblings has been published in the US. Said to be the first empirical study of its kind in the US, the report's authors - from The Commission on Parenthood's Future - surveyed nearly 500 donor-conceived adults aged between 18 and 45 aiming to feed into international debate on the ethics, meaning, and practice of donor conception.
The report, entitled 'My Daddy's Name is Donor' (the name was taken from a controversial T-shirt slogan produced by a company founded by two lesbian parents of a donor-conceived child), shows that although 45 per cent of donor offspring agreed with the statement 'the circumstances of my conception bother me' and that half expressed concerns or serious objections to donor conception itself, well over half (61 per cent) of donor offspring favour the practice and are far more likely than non-donor conceived adults to become donors themselves.

The findings also reported unease about payment for gametes with half the respondents being disturbed that money was involved in their conception. It also found that approximately two-thirds of respondents supported the right of donor-conceived offspring to obtain information about their biological father and to know his identity.

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Fertility Road Magazine launched across the UK and Europe

VIBRATION MEDIA UNVEIL GROUNDBREAKING MARKET-LEADING FERTILITY TITLE

Campaign media specialists VIBRATION MEDIA have just announced the launch of FERTILITY ROAD magazine, already installed as Europe’s number one fertility and pre-pregnancy title.

FERTILITY ROAD is a glossy, lifestyle-themed 68-page magazine designed to address the key issues surrounding female and male fertility, presented in a style and tone that is a world away from the stuffy, science-based material that dominates much of this subject area.

Issue One, launched at the end of April, 2010, comes with exclusive interview material from fertility expert Zita West, while model and actress Nancy Sorrell, wife of comedian Vic Reeves, is the cover star who, inside the magazine, talks in detail about her physical and emotional battles with IVF.

Other key features in the first issue include:

Misspent Youth… the real effects of alcohol, drugs and other vices
Man In The Mirror… the things men say about fertility, and the things they don’t
On The Fertility Road… travelling for treatment, the positives and the pitfalls
The Time Is Now… how to choose the right moment to start your family.

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IVF babies aborted 'after women change their minds about becoming a mother'

Dozens of women are aborting babies conceived by IVF because they have changed their minds about motherhood, figures suggest. Many are in their teens, twenties and early thirties, implying that numerous abortions were carried out for social reasons, rather than on health grounds. Relationship breakdowns, fears about motherhood and simple changes of heart are all likely to have played a part in the terminations.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority statistics, released by the IVF watchdog through the Freedom of Information Act, have angered family campaigners who accuse the women of treating babies like 'designer goods'. The revelation has also surprised fertility doctors who generally lose contact with patients after they become pregnant. Professor-Bill Ledger, a leading fertility doctor and member of the HFEA, said: 'I had no idea there were so many post-IVF abortions - and each one is a tragedy.'

He added: 'These women can't be surprised to be pregnant. You can't have an IVF pregnancy by accident.' The statistics show that an average of 80 abortions are carried out in England and Wales each year following IVF treatment. In 2007, the figure was as high as 97 - with almost a third of the women aged between 18 and 34.


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Zita West: Less stress to help conceive

For many couples, conception takes longer than you might think and one in six couples have problems conceiving. According to Britain's best-known midwife Zita West, the stress of it all can make conception even harder.
West has been baby guru to Hollywood A-listers such as Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett as well as Sophie, Countess of Wessex. At her London clinic she takes an integrated approach to pregnancy and birth, combining sound medical advice with therapies and counselling. She has a reputation for getting amazing results with couples who are struggling to conceive, particularly those undergoing IVF.

Now, thanks to her new book, Zita West's Guide to Fertility and Assisted Conception, we can all benefit from her expertise. West says she interviewed "all the top doctors in the field of fertility and IVF" for the book. Their bottom line? "When you look at what is stopping people from getting pregnant," she says, "the common theme is stress."

Around 23 per cent of infertility cases are "unexplained". But West believes that around 80 per cent of these cases could be down to the wrong mindset.

This is an area of some clinical debate. After all, women conceive in war zones and famines. And surely the last thing any stressed couples need is to berate themselves for not being relaxed enough? West agrees. "You have to take the pressure off," she says. "And that's not easy."

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Researchers Develop Test to identify 'Best' Sperm

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered a method to select sperm with the highest DNA integrity in a bid to improve male fertility. The method is comparable to that of the egg's natural selection abilities, according to the study published in the June/July issue of the Journal of Andrology.
"Our results could help address the fact that approximately 40 percent of infertility cases can be traced to male infertility," said the senior author of the study, Gabor Huszar, M.D., director of the Sperm Physiology Lab and senior research scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale.

Huszar said that past semen analysis focused on sperm concentration and motility. It was assumed that if a man had a high sperm count and active sperm, that he was fertile. But there was no information on the sperm's fertility or its ability to attach to its mark, the female gamete. In an ideal case, the egg naturally selects the optimal sperm, but during in-vitro fertilization treatment of men who had only a few sperm, clinicians did not know whether they were injecting the correct sperm into the egg for fertilization. "We have now found a biochemical marker of sperm fertility so that we can select sperm with high genetic integrity," Huszar said.



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Cool it, boys, if you want a baby

AVOID saunas and taking hot showers if you want to be a father. That is the frank advice to men from the fertility watchdog in its new guide to having babies published this week.
Men, whose fertility has fallen dramatically in recent years, should try to maximise the amount of sperm they produce by keeping themselves cool. The fall in sperm production has been linked to drinking alcohol.

Up to one in five healthy young men between the ages of 18 and 25 have abnormal sperm counts. Even the sperm they do produce is often of poor quality. In contrast, more than 90% of the sperm of a bull or a ram is normal.

The guide from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority advises men how to boost sperm production: “For maximum sperm production, the testes should be a couple of degrees cooler than the rest of your body. It may help to avoid tight-fitting clothing, saunas and hot showers.”

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