"You know, it was finally the time. The month. The time to start trying," Chase said. "And ultimately, it was pregnancy test fail after fail after fail." "It was honestly terrifying, right? Because you didn't know," she said. "Everything runs through your head, like, I'm never going to be able to have a family. Among other things. So, it was very scary."
US scientists have, for the first time, made early-stage human embryos by manipulating DNA taken from people's skin cells and then fertilising it with sperm. The technique could overcome infertility due to old age or disease, by using almost any cell in the body as the starting point for life. It could even allow same-sex couples to have a genetically related child.
I'd spent a year getting pregnant, then unpregnant. I'd wake in the middle of the night and remember: heartbeat, heartbeat. At times, I felt absurd for my grief. I couldn't ascertain what the metric of a mother was, what goalpost had to be met. Had I met it? Surely grief like this love like this had to be more deeply earned?
If you are undergoing fertility treatment, you may be strong and capable, but you don't need to go through it alone. Social media and volunteer organizations have made it possible for fertility patients to support each other, and that is great, but it is not the end of the story.
The debate centers on whether to unwind Colorado's sperm donor regulations, concerned that they have deterred donations for aspiring parents while emphasizing the need for oversight.