HeyReprotech

Kathryn Blaze Baum is a Canadian journalist who wrote about her experience having children with the help of the fertility industry. Her book was published earlier this year: Kathryn Blaze Baum. In Fertility: The Story of a Miracle and the Big Business Behind It. 2026. Just before the book came out, she published this article in the Globe: Kathryn Blaze Baum. “IVF is not a silver bullet.” The Globe and Mail. 04 Apr 2026.

Kristina Kasparian’s writing on surrogacy is beautiful, insightful and heartbreaking. If you have time to read only one thing today, read this: “I Am the ‘Other’ in ‘Mother’.” Electric Literature. 2024. Obviously, I think you should read these next two as well:

Even if it feels like you’ve read all about this case, if you haven’t read this New Yorker story, out last month, you really should. It’s a remarkable piece of investigative journalism. Ava Kofman. “The babies kept in a mysterious Los Angeles mansion.“ The New Yorker. 09 Feb 2026. Share

Anyone interested in surrogacy should read these two articles. Sarah Kliff. “A Surrogacy Firm Told Parents-to-Be Their Money Was Safe. Suddenly, It Vanished.“ The New York Times. 10 Dec 2025. Ben Foldy. “Surrogacy Is a Multibillion-Dollar Business. Sometimes the Money Goes Missing.“ The Wall Street Journal. 21 Oct 2025. According to this WSJ article, there have been several cases this year.

She was ready to have her 15th child. Then came the felony charges. MaryBeth Lewis’s desire to be a new mom again, at 65 years old, led to a custody battle like no other. David Gauvey Herbert. “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Stop Having Children.” New York Times. 02 Nov 2025. This excellent article appeared in Sunday’s New York Times. I just wanted to share it. It raises so many questions.

HeyReprotech is still paused, but I wanted to pop in to mention that last week, my documentary on egg freezing — Egg Freezing in an Age of Uncertainty — aired on CBC radio’s IDEAS.

Just a note to let you know that HeyReprotech remains on hiatus. Any item published here will be free to all subscribers, until further notice.

No HeyReprotech post ever got more responses than this one. Some people loved it. Other people hated it. As a result of some fair and reasonable criticisms, a few lines have changed from the original. This item was originally published in HeyReprotech on 20 April 2021. Twenty years ago this month I had my first child. Two years later, I had a second. I now have two amazing young adult daughters, and it's not lost on me that what I write about these days has more to do with them than it does with me.

This item was originally published in HeyReprotech on 17 May 2022. 5 minute read An older couple is having trouble conceiving. They go to a fertility clinic. Their doctor advises them to test their embryos for chromosomal abnormalities, so they do, at great expense. When the test results come back, however, the news is grim: every last embryo is deemed abnormal. Ironically, if they had not done testing, they could have transferred any of those embryos.

This item was originally published in HeyReprotech on 19 Mar 2019. 3 minute read Not so long ago, children born via sperm donation were told that the donors who had helped create them would never want to know them — or even know about them. The Nice Man had given his seed and that was the end of it. Getting in touch might ruin his real life. Times have changed.