Since the first IVF baby was born in 1978, technological advancement of reproductive medicine has enabled millions to have children, marking a significant milestone in medical history.
Since 1985, every time the U.S. elects a Republican president, global maternal mortality increases by about 10.5%, or about 44.7 additional deaths per 100,000 live births. This erodes roughly one-fifth of the average worldwide decline in maternal mortality achieved since 1985.
It feels frightening, but the little eggs I do have left are good quality, so it's not over. When I was in my teens and early twenties I just thought I was getting urinary and kidney infections all the time. I just thought I was one of those unlucky girls. The pain just never went.
The bulk of the money Missouri gives to its crisis pregnancy centers comes from federal funds meant to assist families experiencing poverty with basic necessities and child care, Republican Rep. Jason Smith said on the U.S. House floor in January. As many as $3 of every $4 for pregnancy centers in Missouri was from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in 2024, and in the 2026 fiscal year, it will be $2 out of $3.
For more than 60 years, contraception has been almost exclusively a women's responsibility. Today, women have more than 14 modern contraceptive options, while men have just two: condoms and vasectomies. That imbalance has pushed women to shoulder physical side effects, financial burden, medical risks, and the career impact of family planning-costs that have been accepted as the "status quo" for far too long.
Much of the rebound reflects what demographers describe as the echo boomer effect. Roughly 3.6 million children were born between 1991 and 1995, when births briefly rose after the government in effect ended its family planning policy. That cohort is now in its early thirties, the age at which birth rates are highest. Women in their early thirties numbered an estimated 1.7 million in 2025, up 9% from 2020.
Then we circled back to the question that won't leave us alone. Do we bring a second child into this world, or do we stop at one? It's the most intimate climate question I've ever faced. Not a reusable bag choice. Not a diet tweak. A lifelong decision that will shape our home, our time, and yes, our footprint. I'm not alone in wrestling with this.
The new law, Senate Bill 729, dictates that large insurance groups (defined as 101 or more employees) must expand their services to cover infertility treatments and diagnoses. In addition, according to the bill's text, large health insurance groups also must be able to cover "a maximum of 3 completed oocyte retrievals." Keep in mind that some of these services are for "medically necessary" cases of infertility - like egg freezing before cancer treatment.
The Trump administration really wants Americans to have more kids. President Trump, the self-proclaimed " fertilization president," has called for a new " baby boom." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says communities with big families should get more government funds. The on-again-off-again Trump ally Elon Musk, father of at least 14, has warned that "civilization will disappear" if we don't get busy.
China's birth rate fell last year to its lowest level since 1949, highlighting a deepening demographic struggle for Beijing even as officials roll out new subsidies to encourage couples to have more children. The number of births per 1,000 people dropped to 5.6, the lowest since at least the founding of the People's Republic, according to data released by the National Statistics Bureau on Monday (Jan. 19). The number of newborns decreased 1.6 million, the most since 2020, to 7.9 million.
At the current rate, China's population could drop as low as 800 million by the year 2100, according to the United Nations. China's population fell for the fourth year in a row in 2025 after the country's birth rate dropped to its lowest point since records began almost 80 years ago, according to figures released by the national statistics office in Beijing on Monday.
The truth, of course, is that anyone can contract HIV, given the right circumstance, and according to the Yale University Library's online exhibition " We Are Everywhere: Lesbians in the Archive," by 1991 roughly 40% of HIV-positive people and 12% of AIDS patients in the U.S. were women. But a combination of longstanding bias in the medical field and the perception of HIV/AIDS as a gay epidemic led to women being excluded from research studies and clinical trials.
Amid the Valentine's Day celebrations in the Philippines, declining teen pregnancies among older girls contrast sharply with rising cases among those under 15. Images of romance and young love fill social media feeds, restaurants, and shopping malls across the Philippines. Some local groups also use the season to distribute condoms and awareness flyers. However, behind the festivities lies a more complicated reality as national data show a worrying pattern behind the romantic veneer.
U.S. births fell a little in 2025, according to newly posted provisional data. Slightly over 3.6 million births have been reported through birth certificates, or about 24,000 fewer than in 2024. The decline seems to confirm predictions by some experts, who doubted a 22,250-birth increase in 2024 marked the start of an upward trend. The posted numbers account for nearly all of the babies born in 2025, according to the CDC.
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In 2021, amid the COVID‑19 pandemic, Kristin Wall became pregnant with her second child. Her physician told her that little was known about the COVID-19 vaccine's safety and effectiveness in pregnant people. Observational data - collected from those vaccinated before they knew that they were pregnant - suggested that the vaccine was safe, so she could have it. Still, she'd have to weigh up the risks and benefits herself.
Anna af Ugglas, chief executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and one of the study's authors, said: Nearly 1 million missing midwives means health systems are stretched beyond capacity, midwives are overworked and underpaid, and care becomes rushed and fragmented. Intervention rates rise, and women are more likely to experience poor-quality care or mistreatment, she said. This is not only a workforce issue, it is a quality and safety issue for women and babies.
