Fertility and Babbys

Most of us know Plan B, the emergency contraceptive that a woman can take up to 72 hours after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. Later this year, we will have a plan C — ella, an emergency contraceptive that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex.

For many years now, scientists have been trying to come up with a reliable form of male contraceptive that isn’t a condom. Hormones don’t do the trick. So what did the scientists do? Polyester underpants.

A contraceptive for men is soon going to start trials at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, just in time for the celebration of 50th anniversary of the female contraceptive pill! Dr. Swerdloff, the director of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s Male Contraceptive Clinical Trials Center, said the development of a male contraceptive…continue reading.

Last week the web went up in flames when a woman, by the name of Angie Jackson, began live-tweeting her medical abortion. Jackson discovered she was pregnant the week prior, following the failure of her method of birth control. A single mom with a little boy, Jackson claims that she was was told that her…continue reading.

A recent study by scientists from University of California, San Francisco, have identified a mechanism that prompts sperm to start swimming toward an egg. Appropriately targeted, this mechanism could assist in developing new methods of male contraception. So, basically, sperm are basically balloons of protons. Once they hit the female reproductive tract, these protons are…continue reading.

The mortality rate of California women who die from causes directly related to pregnancy has nearly tripled in the past decade and the state Department of Public Health has for the past seven months declined to release a report outlining the trend. The investigative journalist group California Watch, spoke with investigators who wrote the report…continue reading.

Urologists at the University of Florida are using robots to reverse vasectomies, effectively shaving off 20 minutes of surgery time from the procedure. Not only does this spare surgeons’ backs, as they have to be bent over a patient operating with high-power microscopes, but it appears that the decreased time spent in surgery enables sperm…continue reading.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is holding a webinar and conference call on how the flu affects pregnancy this Wednesday, January 13, from 5:00 to 6:30PM PST. Speakers include Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a board-certified pediatrician and senior scientist in the CDC Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and Dr. Betsy Mitchell,…continue reading.

LOL. Sorry about the title. We know this isn’t funny. But come on–it was too easy. OK, so here’s the deal: there’s a sperm drought in Tasmania. They’re down to four viable sperm donors and for the first time in its 35-year history, women looking for donors are having to be placed on a waiting…continue reading.

Retrograde ejaculation happens when sperm, instead of being released from the body, go back down the urethra and into the bladder. The condition is a result of nerves in the area becoming damaged, and though it doesn’t affect a man’s ability to experience orgasm, retrograde ejaculation can leave a man permanently infertile. “In terms of…continue reading.