Emotions around infertility can be raw. Let’s talk about them with solidarity | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

It’s important to acknowledge ‘fertility privilege’, but let’s not dismiss those whose privilege has been hard won

I first came across the idea of “fertility privilege” in a podcast by the author Elizabeth Day, who has been admirably open about her desperate desire to be a mother after repeat miscarriages and fertility treatment. The podcast made me cry, though Day would be well within her rights to tell me to stuff my tears, because I got my baby. I joined the club. I have what she terms “fertility privilege”, ie I have conceived and carried a child without too much difficulty.

In an article that caused something of a furore, Day wrote: “We rightly talk about privilege in this era of social change – an era marked by Black Lives Matter and #MeToo – but hardly anyone acknowledges fertility privilege. Those of us who have had complicated journeys to parenthood are only too aware of its existence. … I know how it feels to be the infertile one in a world of apparent abundance. I wouldn’t post about my glorious babies on social media in much the same way as I wouldn’t post about my expansive mansion or my fleet of Bentleys (not that I have any of those), because it’s thoughtless to those who don’t have these things.”

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When did I decide to become a solo mother by choice? I have so many answers – but none are true | Alexandra Collier

A bad breakup, bad dates, a podcast: the series of moments that led to the decision that changed Alexandra Collier’s life – and created a new one

“When did you know that you wanted to be a solo mum?” reporters and friends and strangers often ask me. They wait for a story of a life-altering revelation that crystallised my decision and rerouted my path. That’s because the way we tell – and write – stories, the heroine is usually catapulted out of her life by an event. Lightning strikes. Strangers collide. A ringing phone brings the news. And everything changes.

I’ve crafted various answers to those asking when I chose to become a mother on my own; I’m a writer after all, I can spin a winning anecdote. But none of them are true.

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Third scan could greatly reduce UK breech birth numbers, study suggests

Researcher say making scan at 36-37 weeks routine may also cut risk of severe complications for babies

Giving women a third scan at the end of their pregnancy could dramatically reduce the number of unexpected breech births and the risk of babies being born with severe health problems, research suggests.

Pregnant women in the UK have routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks only, with no further scan offered in the third trimester unless they are considered at risk of a complicated pregnancy. The researchers hope their findings could lead to a change in guidance for clinicians that will improve maternity care.

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‘Forever chemicals’ linked to infertility in women, study shows

Those with higher levels of PFAS in their blood had 40% lower chance of conceiving within a year of trying

Women with higher levels of so-called “forever chemicals” in their blood have a 40% lower chance of becoming pregnant within a year of trying to conceive, according to the first known study on the effect of PFAS on female fertility.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been found in almost everyone tested for them, with 99% of people in the US contaminated. The research was conducted in Singapore, where contamination levels are lower, but the scientists still found a strong correlation with reduced fertility.

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Beverley Lawrence Beech obituary

Campaigner who fought against the medicalisation of birth and exposed damaging practices that harmed women during labour

In the 1970s, in what the gynaecologist Wendy Savage called “the biggest unevaluated medical experiment in the world”, more than 80% of births took place in hospital, with procedures such as artificial induction of labour commonplace.

The activist Beverley Lawrence Beech, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 78, was vehemently opposed to the medicalisation of birth, and especially to the disregard of women’s rights and the demonising of home births. For 40 years, as chair of the campaigning group Aims (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services), Beech was a forceful voice, exposing damaging practices and unethical behaviour, and helping bring about a paradigm shift in maternity care.

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Spanish TV star says surrogate baby is actually her grandchild

Ana Obregón, 68, says her son, Aless Lequio García, expressed desire to have a child before death in 2020

A heated debate in Spain triggered by a 68-year-old celebrity who was reported to have used a surrogate mother in Miami to have a baby took a twist on Wednesday when the woman announced in the socialite magazine ¡Hola! that the baby was actually the daughter of her son who died of cancer in 2020.

The actor and presenter Ana Obregón told ¡Hola! that doctors had encouraged her son, Aless Lequio García, to preserve samples of sperm before he began treatment and that he expressed a desire just before dying to have a child. The samples, she said, were stored in New York.

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One in six people worldwide affected by infertility, WHO reports

Call for access to treatment to be urgently expanded as studies show ‘infertility does not discriminate’

One in six people worldwide are affected by infertility, according to a report that lays bare the scale of the problem.

About 17.5% of the global adult population – roughly one in six – will experience infertility at some point in their lifetime, the 98-page report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) says. The figures are its first estimates of infertility prevalence in more than a decade.

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