Glitches At Embryo Storage Clinics Spark Movement To Increase Oversight Of Facilities
Assisted reproduction is largely self-regulated in the United States, and many lawmakers in the past have shied away from the potentially politically fraught issue. But that may change following a clinic's mishap earlier this year.
The Washington Post:
Embryo Storage Bill Seeks Oversight Of Fertility Centers And Penalties For Those That Violate Safeguards
The loss of 4,000 eggs and embryos at the University Hospitals Fertility Clinic in suburban Cleveland in March was, according to a preliminary investigation, largely preventable. The Ohio Department of Health found the facility had issues with record keeping of temperatures and liquid nitrogen levels in their cryotanks and had only one designated point of contact for problems related to the tanks. Ohio state Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D) is working on legislation he hopes will help prevent such disasters in the future and introduce penalties for fertility clinics that violate the new safeguards. (Cha, 7/5)
Meanwhile —
The New York Times:
Lots Of Successful Women Are Freezing Their Eggs. But It May Not Be About Their Careers.
“Freeze Your Eggs, Free Your Career,” announced the headline of a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story in 2014. It was the year that Facebook and then Apple began offering egg freezing as a benefit to employees. Hundreds of think pieces followed, debating the costs and benefits of “postponing procreation” in the name of professional advancement. In the years since, many more women across the world have frozen their eggs. Many are highly educated. But the decision may have very little to do with work, at least according to a new study. In interviews with 150 American and Israeli women who had undergone one cycle, career planning came up as the primary factor exactly two times. Instead, most women focused on another reason: they still hadn’t found a man to build a family with. (Murphy, 7/3)
