Drop in Fertility Rates

Over 100 years ago, it was relatively common for people to see a woman in her 40's with her own baby in her arms, and every now and then you would even see a woman in her mid 50's with her own baby in her arms.

In the last 50 years or so, there has been a frightening drop in fertility. In 2006, 35 year old women are less fertile than women age 45-50 were 100 years ago.

Women were designed to have children from the start of menstruation to a year or two before the menopause. And if menopause isn't till 65, then 100 years ago, a woman would still be getting pregnant, age 63, and giving birth age 64.

But the massive drop in fertility means that it is becoming increasingly uncommon for women over 35 to get pregnant without medical assistance. And no one seems to be interested in investigating this loss of fertility.

And it is not just women who are becoming more and more infertile. Over 100 years ago, sperm counts were typically 100 million sperm per sample, but now they are 30 million sperm per sample, and falling.

So 100 years ago, although it would have been unusual for a 52 year old women to give birth, every large community had a woman in her 50's with her own babe in her arms. So what has gone so terribly with women's/men's fertility, that, now, makes us think that Patricia Rashbrook and Lauren Cohen are so unusual?

Photo credit: debsch
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Category: Fertility, infertile, infertility, menopause, surprise pregnancy