Ageing and Fertility: Biology Comes Second
By Kirsty Oswald,
BioNews
| 08. 10. 2015
The association between a woman's age and her fertility never seems far from the news but recently there has been a veritable bombardment of opinion over what age a woman should have a child.
We are repeatedly reminded that a woman's fertility drops off a cliff after age 40. Or was it 35? Or 38? I don't remember. And it depends which week you ask.
How does this keep making headlines time and time again, when each finding seems so unauthoritative and inconsistent it might as well have been picked from a hat?
It would appear we cannot resist a biologically authorised opportunity to tell a woman what to do with her body. But all this talk of the age a woman's fertility 'drops off a cliff' is just a distractor from the truth – this phenomenon of women finding themselves 'up against' the biological clock is a cultural one, not a biological one.
Read more...
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Related Articles
By Grace Won, KQED [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025
In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...
By Emma Cieslik, Ms. Magazine | 11.20.2025
Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...
By Adam Feuerstein, Stat | 11.20.2025
The Food and Drug Administration was more than likely correct to reject Biohaven Pharmaceuticals’ treatment for spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare and debilitating neurodegenerative disease. At the very least, the decision announced Tuesday night was not a surprise to anyone paying attention. Approval...
