Fertility medicine

Three hundred protesters stood in the cold in front of France's Senate on Jan. 22 to demonstrate against a bill being reviewed there this week involving assisted reproductive technology.

The latest demonstration comes after thousands of opponents of the controversial legislation took to the streets of Paris on Jan. 19.

Tens of thousands protested in Paris against a new law on in vitro fertilization. It will give women under the age of 43 access to state-funded procedures, regardless of their marital status and sexual orientation. Currently, only heterosexual couples have access to the procedures.

€ 500,000 was the profit of the organized crime group for illegal adoptions and trafficking in eggs in Greece, police officials said in a statement quoted by Kathimerini newspaper. According to authorities, the group that was busted yesterday is the largest in Europe and the best organized.

A handout image made available by the Spanish company Embryotools shows the birth of a baby with DNA from three people that was conceived using an experimental in vitro fertilization (IVF) method called mitochondrial donation, in Athens on Wednesday (photo released Thursday). The method is only believed to have been used once before.

Turkey has become a popular destination for foreigners pursuing in vitro fertilization treatment (IVF) with its successful clinics and cheap prices, according to a professor of gynecology and obstetrics.

When you're an endangered species and your partner just isn't in the mood, drastic measures are called for, as Ginni, one of Prague Zoo's Asiatic lionesses, found out on Jan. 3 when she underwent an artificial insemination procedure.

A controversial legislation that was passed by a parliamentary committee on Nov. 7 includes a provision that expands a ban on sperm and egg donations.

The Health Ministry has initiated work to outlaw surrogate motherhood in Turkey and seeks to have the relevant law changed, introducing a jail sentence of between two and five years for those found guilty of the act. 

Annually, the state will allocate nearly BGN 3 million more to finance another in vitro procedure, reported BGNES.

According to new research, there has been an alarming decrease in the average sperm count of western men over the last few decades. From 1973 to 2011, the researchers observed a 59 percent fall, from 337.5 million to 137.5 million.