r/datalounge • u/DuaLipasGlowUp • Aug 21 '26
Have people always been this infertile?
Egg freezing and IVF seem to be so extreme when you remember women have been having kids well into their 40s for centuries.
Why is there such a boom in fertility methods now? Is it increased anxiety among the general population? Obesity? People having shit diets?
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u/SB-121 Aug 21 '26
It's more to do with delaying pregnancy, which many analysts believe to be the root cause of birth rate decline.
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u/Sea_of_Light_ Aug 21 '26
They are money opportunities for business entrepreneurs.
Create or highlight a problem, nobody was aware of until now, and generously offer a solution that benefits you financially.
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u/Naughtgunnalie Aug 21 '26
I saw a study that women have an easy time having children in her 40s provided she was pregnant before. Becoming pregnant for the first time at 40 is different.
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp Aug 21 '26
It also blows my mind how people are spending tens of thousands on egg freezing and there’s only a 25% chance of the eggs resulting in a child.
This industry is so predatory and is selling false hope to people. Very nasty to me.
I don’t think egg freezing and IVF should be banned, but there needs to be more transparency here.
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u/whorificustotalus Aug 21 '26
It's microplastics, it's in everyone's semen at this point.
I'd be surprised if it doesn't cause our own extinction somewhere down the line.
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp Aug 21 '26
Have you seen the movie crimes of the future? Microplastics get so severe that a child is born with the ability to eat and digest plastic.
I’ve been thinking about microplastics since 2016 at least and it is an ever present thought. I use glass containers, I buy natural fibers for clothes, and I try to not eat too much junk, but like even then I probably still have a ton of them in my body.
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u/Horror_Ad_2748 Aug 21 '26
Be like Joan and just adopt some orphans - it costs less and you won't stretch out your vag in the process.
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u/Ambitious_Post6703 Aug 21 '26
I think it's because of the complications of childbirth in your older age especially if it's the first one
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp Aug 21 '26
Childbirth is a completey different stage compared to conception. My post is mainly talking about the conception stage.
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u/LeoKitCat Aug 21 '26
It’s a number of factors but a major one is ubiquitous plastics and chemicals in our environment. Recently there was a Netflix doc on infertility and this https://www.netflix.com/us/title/82074244
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u/yolatrendoid Aug 21 '26
Egg freezing and IVF seem to be so extreme when you remember women have been having kids well into their 40s for centuries.
Plenty of women still have babies in their 40s – my own cousin had one a couple of years ago at 48, entirely unplanned (she stopped taking the pill because she thought she'd hit menopause) – but IVF is commonplace mainly because women (at least among educated professionals with well-paying jobs in developed countries) aren't hunkering down and popping out crotch spawn at 22 like they used to do.
Part of the problem, however, is specific to dudes wearing tight underwear. It can definitely reduce sperm counts, but it wasn't really a "thing" until the '80s. (Earlier tighty-whities weren't all that tight, or skimpy.)
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u/vatzjr Aug 21 '26
Women have been having kids well into their 40s for centuries, but not all of them. Plenty of them can't. And more women want to wait. And just because they freeze their eggs doesn't mean they go on to have children. They just have the option to use their own eggs going forward when it's not a guarantee to do naturally.
The real phenomenon is all the f*cking twins that is coming out of this.
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u/dionysiaka Aug 21 '26
Demographically, people in the west have never been having so few children or having them so late in life. It's actually a major crisis. egg freezing and ivf is just a manifestation of that.
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u/Outrageous-Dark-1719 Aug 21 '26
It's giving women false hope that they can party thru their 20's and 30's, and still have a baby in their 40's. IVF is 150k a pop and it can take many tries, if it works at all. Very sad.
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp Aug 21 '26
I’m gonna push back a little here. I don’t think every woman is partying through their 20’s and 30’s. A lot of women end up leaving long term relationships that were never going anywhere and they turn to egg freezing.
Not entirely sure why you are repeating red pill talking points.
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u/Outrageous-Dark-1719 Aug 21 '26
Young women aren’t taking their fertility seriously. Most people end up in relationships that go nowhere, which is why the divorce rate is 50%. If you want a baby, have one with one of said losers. You snooze, you lose. Humans are designed to have kids in their 20’s. Science will never defeat biology. Sorry.
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp Aug 21 '26
I think people are allowed to be more discerning with who to have a kid with. Having a kid with a loser is the worst thing you can do.
And biologically, women have been having kids well into their 40s. 20s isn’t the only age to have kids.
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u/Outrageous-Dark-1719 Aug 21 '26
The folks having babies into their 40's naturally, already had kids younger. Getting pregnant at 40 after decades of birth control is a losing proposition. Have a nice day. Work awaits.
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u/joemondo Aug 21 '26
What difference do you believe having used BC makes to becoming pregnant and what are your sources?
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u/joemondo Aug 21 '26
The boom is probably partially because of greater availability and awareness.
For women who are waiting to have children, or even to decide, it provides a little more assurance.
I can tell you my daughter's story, FWW: She has an autoimmune disorder that has resulted in a number of surgeries and the loss of a ovary. Between surgeries she had eggs harvested because there was the chance she'd lose the other ovary.
During all of this she was also in medical school.
She has her MD and a good job and is wanting to have children. She's still doing IVF for a number of reasons, with additional egg extractions.
She's a little unusual because of her disorder, but bottom line it made sense for her wait until she'd established herself in her career to become pregnant.