<i>Cracked Open</i>: New Book Looks at Fertility and Reproductive Technology
By Rachel,
Our Bodies Our Blog
| 04. 30. 2013
Our Bodies Ourselves board member
Miriam Zoll has a new book coming out on May 1,
Cracked Open: Liberty, Fertility and the Pursuit of High Tech Babies.
Zoll tells her own story of infertility and IVF treatments, and shares what she learned along the way about assisted reproductive technologies.
From the book description:
When things don’t progress as she had hoped, she and her husband enter a science-fiction world of medical seduction, capitalist conception and bioethical quagmires. Desperate to conceive, they turn to unproven treatments and procedures only to learn that the odds of becoming parents through reproductive medicine are far less than they and their generation had been led to believe.
OBOS Co-Founder and Executive Director Judy Norsigian contributed to the foreword with Michele Goodwin, a professor of law at the University of Minnesota. Learn more about Zoll and “Cracked Open” as she
shares her story on the My Fertility Choices site.
Zoll is also collecting stories on infertility and reproductive technology
via her website. Requests to have her come speak can also
be made online.
Related Articles
By Michael Le Page , New Scientist | 06.25.2026
We now know the master gene that controls embryonic development in people. Called NANOG, its role has been identified by making precise changes to the DNA of fertilised eggs using a technique called CRISPR base editing.
The discovery might lead...
By Sarah Norcross, Sandy Starr, Amanda Cooney, and Anneliese Burton, BioNews | 07.06.2026
By Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 07.01.2026
Birthrates in much of the developed world are at record lows, but there’s one demographic group that’s exploring new frontiers of fertility: ultrawealthy men. Deploying nearly limitless resources, a small number of them are reproducing at such an extraordinary scale...
By Mustapha Bature Sallama, Modern Ghana | 06.11.2026
In much of West Africa, a woman who cannot bear children does not merely face a medical condition. She faces a verdict. Her marriage may unravel. Her community may turn cold. Her identity, in a social order that ties womanhood...