Sex and the Pandemic: Why Birth Rate is Declining

The COVID-19 pandemic was initially feared to bring about a baby boom. After being cooped up because of rigorous government stay-at-home protocols and with many employees preferring to work from home to avoid catching the virus, it was widely believed that American couples will turn up the heat in their bedrooms. Instead, the unexpected happened. The United States Census Bureau reported that the annual average birth per day took a 4.06% plunge at the end of December 2020. It meant that there were 417 fewer Americans born every day in 2020 compared to the previous year. The National Center for Health Statistics underscored that there is a continuing 2% average downtrend in the number of births for the past 6 years since 2015. Instead of helping, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation.  

At a time of economic insecurity brought on by the pandemic and other disturbing events around the world, couples are choosing to dig in. Harmeet Kaur of CNN highlights that the pandemic has brought in the open the government’s seeming lack of support for parents having difficulty with childcare or remote education for their children. Rearing up and providing for a child has become even more difficult and demanding for would-be parents. 

There is also the matter of choice. The pandemic has jolted couples to the importance of health and taking care of themselves first. With the possibility of death lurking just around the corner, life is to be savoured and personal goals realized first. Saving for that long-desired vacation and the ideal house or condominium unit to call one’s own has taken a new urgency. Any free time is spent with family members or together as a couple. As a result, the interest to have children is taking a backseat.   

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the government saves about US$15.2 Billion annually from its interventions on the prevention of unplanned pregnancies. With the COVID pandemic unwittingly aiding its efforts, the government must be grinning from ear to ear.

by Barry Verkauf

Is In Vitro Fertilization Permanently Changing the Face of Society?

In vitro fertilization (IVF), the most recognizable face of artificial reproduction techniques (ART), is radically changing the landscape of human reproduction. The small dash of petri dish magic has gone mainstream and is making its presence felt in the lives of ordinary people. Celebrities who have had successful and sometimes painful experiences with IVF are coming out in the open and increasing its popularity. Singer Celine Dion, stand-up comedian Amy Schumer, Courteney Cox of the sitcom Friends, Nicole Kidman, and Sarah Jessica Parker all spoke about their experiences with IVF. With the testimonials lending a genuine feel and authenticity to IVF, does it bode well for society as a whole?

(photo courtesy of Georges Biard)

For one, IVF is driving home the point that there is life after a diagnosis of infertility. For infertile couples, it has ramped up hope. Not that the experience of going through IVF cycles is ever easy. Actress Brooke Shields admitted that she almost gave up after going through multiple courses of IVF before the procedure succeeded. Hugh Jackman and his wife tried it twice without success. Fortune favors the bold, however. Those who find themselves caught in the unlucky grip of infertility sometimes need only a sprinkle of fortune, in the form of IVF, to feel extremely grateful.

With IVF, age-old biases on infertility are starting to come down. Infertile men and women can no longer be looked down upon as inferior. Men and women can usually become parents whenever they desire to do so. At the same time, they are free to prioritize their careers and personal goals before deciding to become parents. It is a brave, new world out there full of promise.

Finally, IVF is opening fresh avenues in the medical and scientific fields as we speak. New ideas on the prevention and treatment of genetic diseases are cropping up. With the advent of IVF, the concept of infertility, human reproduction and health will never be the same again. 

by Barry Verkauf

The Future of Reproduction

In the past, reproduction was for some a struggle. With medical expertise and over technology, birth rates for the infertile were lower, with many miscarriages and stillbirths and many couples remain infertile.  However, with our modern-day knowledge, we have achieved new levels of possibilities. Today is the future of reproduction potentially, resulting to increase in population for those who wish.

One extraordinary advance we made is the creation of Vitro fertilization.

Not only does it principally help infertile men and women get a chance to birth one of their blood, but it also gives opportunities to lesbian and gay men to start their own biological families. With Vitro fertilization, embryos are incubated from 3-6 days in the laboratory with their parent’s DNA and then carefully transferred to the woman’s uterus. If a lesbian couple wants a baby, they can use this method or artificial insemination to get one of them pregnant, while for gay men, they can acquire a surrogate mother to aid them.

Even transgender males can have a baby if their ovaries and uterus are still present. With the help of technology, an embryo can still be formed and transferred to his uterus. Even though he stopped the testosterone for this process, he can return to his androgens once the baby is born if he is not planning to breastfeed. The world is constantly gaining knowledge, resulting in even the first penis transplantation in the United States.

What comes next is the question. The future of reproduction may lie in “genetic engineering,” With how fast technology evolves, this is entirely possible. Soon, humans can take specific genes and remove them using the CRISPR – Cas9 technique. With this technique, we can remove the chances of inheriting a family illness and improve the child’s health.

The purpose of technology is to aid humankind, and so far, we have been advancing at newfound speeds in the field of reproduction. Soon, many other things will be possible, increasing our knowledge today and creating a new future of reproduction. The consequences will only be known in time.

by Barry Verkauf  

How Pregnancy Affects Women Today

Back in the older days, women were meant to stay at home to take care of the house and kids. However, the times are constantly changing, and now many women are working, some even as breadwinners. So, the circumstances of how pregnancy affects women today are entirely different. With the fight for equal rights between men and women, feminism is rising. What does that mean for women looking to start a family of their own?

Many women aim to have a consistent career in their lives, which is why there has been a push for both men and women to have equal opportunities to concentrate on these while simultaneously having time for themselves and family.

Frequently, women would have to quit their jobs after getting pregnant to focus on their families. Full-time working moms often say they don’t have enough time for themselves nor time to spend with their children. How to fix this? The book “Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family.” tells that the whole industrial culture needed to be altered to accommodate.

Today, we have the highest rate of working women to date. In the past 50 years, working women increased from 38% to 58%, while of those working, working mothers with children under 18 went from 47% to 71%. Some studies say a working mother can significantly affect a daughter’s self-image and encourage children to be functioning members of society.

If a woman wants both work and family, both the woman and their partners must work together to lessen the stress and conflict that comes with raising a family, as Suzanne Venker says in her book, “The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men and Marriage.”

As the decades pass, society continues to evolve, changing how pregnancy affects women today. Wanting to pursue your career is all a matter of choice. Women must have the freedom and opportunity to pursue their careers and at the same time have a family, work without having a family, or only be a homemaker as they choose.

by Barry Verkauf

Two Ways Contraception Can Benefit Women

Contraception has existed since long ago, and with newfound technology, it has only gotten better. There are many views towards the use of contraception, two sides either encouraging or discouraging the use of them. However, we cannot deny the numbers. Contraceptives were invented to benefit our current society, not harm it. There are two ways that contraception can benefit women, and by doing so, it benefits the entire population.

- Non-harmful birth control

Some people believe that using contraception like birth pills will result in infertility. This resulted in women halting the use of birth control and thus, increasing the percentage of unintended pregnancies, as found in a new study by the World Health Organization. However, that is not the case. Women who have used birth control still have the same chances of pregnancy as women who don’t of the same age. This way, you can decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies, giving women more opportunities towards other potential activities and benefits.

- High-quality family planning

Contraception is a part of responsible family planning. Many women want in their view to gain a better future by using contraceptive methods and at the same time create a better society. Benefits from contraception include better maternal relationships between a mother and child, resulting in an increase in development in society, economy, and empowerment in women, as said by Dr. Mari Nagai. She was a former medical officer for reproductive and maternal health at WHO. 

In our current days, the population is able to increase, resulting from our newfound technology, giving people safer processes in reproduction. With how the world is going through a “Sexual Revolution,” women can experience the safety of sex with the use of various contraceptives, preventing unwanted pregnancies and in some instances, potential STDs. Different kinds of birth control are being invented as time passes as women have a wide range of potential benefits.

by Barry Verkauf

Views on Sex: A Historical Outlook

Reproduction has always been an essential key in the flow of life, and this goes for all living beings. Throughout the centuries of humankind, we have viewed it through various historical and cultural views. Let’s look at the historical views on sex and how it evolved.

- Divine or Biblical View

In the Divine or Biblical view, reproduction resulted from God’s words: “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” Children are seen as a gift from God. Sex could be viewed as a double-edged blade. On the one hand, it was a task assigned to humans by God, and on the other, it was a temptation led by the devil resulting in infections and accidents in pregnancy. Various Gods worshipped over the times were divine figures dedicated to fertility. There’s the Egyptian Goddess Nephthys and the Grecian Goddess Aphrodite.

- Societal View

In the societal view, reproduction is deemed necessary. When human beings took a step away from the hunter/gatherer phase and into an agrarian society, it was essential to multiply as it was a time of development. With war and the formation of societies, a steady inflow of human resources was needed.

- Modern View

In the modern view, we are going through another “Sexual Revolution” similar to what occurred in the 60s to 70s. With the rise of various sexualities, feminism, and new forms of contraceptives, the act of reproduction is no longer needed by some. Some of the new generations are even set on not having children in these circumstances. Sex by then is mainly viewed as something to enjoy or express one’s self.

The saying “the only constant is change” has been proven repeatedly, and humankind has reached yet another stage in its approach towards reproduction. Of course, many views remain today in different people, but different norms have been applied in the past. This was the historical outlook on the views of sex. How about through your eyes? In your perspective, how do you see the concept of sex?

by Barry Verkauf

Why Women Prefer the Pill Over LARC?

The introduction of the contraceptive pill to mainstream America in 1960 gave women vaunted freedom over their bodies. 

However, like any other drug, some unwanted side effects can occur making their use for some unpleasant. There were reports that artificial estrogen led to blood clots in some women subjects. You can add incidents of nausea, vomiting, and sometimes breast pain to the list. Many women cited freedom of choice in the search for an alternative to the pill. Ultimately one of the devices that turned heads was the LARCs or long-acting reversible contraceptives that include intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and contraceptive implants.

Intra-uterine devices (IUDs), first introduced in 1909 in Germany, has a slow acceptance history. It even gained a notorious reputation because of the failed Dalkon Shield device in the 1970s when reports of infertility, pelvic infections, and sepsis came to light. It took until 2013 before IUDs became popular again after much-safer versions were released in the market. Although LARCs are said to be highly effective and are considered set-and-forget contraceptive devices, they lag behind the pill in usage.

A big deterrent to the use of LARCs is the cost of the procedure. The insertion may or may not be covered by Insurance. Its removal, when the woman changes her mind, is sometimes not. Some women also do not feel comfortable with an alien device embedded inside their bodies. These and a variety of other reasons make women prefer the contraceptive pill over the LARCs.

by Dr. Barry Verkauf, author of the book, Sex, Science, Society, and Reproduction: The Pill that changed America

In Vitro Fertilization and Surrogacy - Is It Time?

 In vitro fertilization (IVF) has been the subject of moral and ethical debates since July 25, 1978. It was the date when Louise Joy Brown, the first successfully born baby under the procedure, was introduced to the world. The debates continued to rage when IVF became a vehicle for gestational surrogacy. It is an accepted fact, however, that, for a woman with a damaged uterus, underlying heart condition, or who went through a hysterectomy, IVF and surrogacy may be her only chance to have kids.

IVF is one of the more popular forms of assisted reproductive technology (ART). It involves a minor surgical procedure called follicle aspiration to remove a woman’s eggs from her ovary. The eggs are made to undergo fertilization in a laboratory setting. The resulting embryo is inserted back into the womb 3 or 5 days after. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate woman receives the embryo in her womb instead of the woman who was the source of the aspirated eggs. The surrogate woman or birth mother carries the child in her womb until its birth. She releases the baby to the biological parents, afterward, following their surrogacy contract.

It is reported that about 750 babies are born every year through gestational surrogacy. With this number of births, it is safe to say that both gestational surrogacy and IVF are here to stay. Though hounded by controversy at every turn, they have become a source of hope for women who cannot conceive naturally.

by Dr. Barry Verkauf, author of the book, Sex, Science, Society, and Reproduction: The Pill that changed America