Reproductive technologies

Reproductive technologies are medical methods that assist, prevent, or otherwise alter human reproduction, including contraception, fertility treatment, and genetic testing.

In vitro fertilization: A fertility treatment in which eggs are fertilized with sperm outside the body and an embryo is transferred to the uterus. It is a central method for achieving pregnancy when conception inside the body is difficult.
Ovulation induction: The use of medication to stimulate the release of eggs from the ovaries. It addresses infertility by increasing or regulating ovulation.
Adoption: A legal process that permanently transfers parental rights and responsibilities to adoptive parents. It forms a family without using a medical method to create a pregnancy.
Reproductive rights: Rights concerning decisions about reproduction, including whether and when to have children and access related healthcare. Access to reproductive technologies is shaped by claims about autonomy and healthcare rights.
Contraception: Methods used to prevent pregnancy by interrupting ovulation, fertilization, or implantation. It represents the preventive side of reproductive medicine.
Sperm donation: The provision of sperm by a donor for use in fertility treatment or research. Donated sperm can supply the gamete needed for insemination or embryo creation.
Fertility awareness: Methods that track signs of the menstrual cycle to estimate fertile days and guide decisions about sex. It can help avoid or pursue pregnancy without clinical intervention.
Reproductive justice: A framework linking reproductive autonomy to the social conditions needed to have children, not have children, and raise them safely. It examines how unequal resources and constraints shape who can use these methods.
Intrauterine insemination: A fertility procedure that places prepared sperm directly into the uterus around ovulation. It offers a less invasive route to conception than in vitro fertilization.
Egg donation: The provision of oocytes by a donor for use in assisted reproduction. Donated eggs allow embryo creation when a patient’s eggs cannot be used.

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