Name: Fighting for Fertility
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NOVA

At 39, Brigitte Adams became an early adopter of egg vitrification, a technology that can dramatically improve the preservation of a woman's eggs and, potentially, her future fertility.
Here’s her story.

A woman is born with over a million eggs, but only 10% remain by the time she's 30.

To Start a Family, This Woman Turned to Egg Freezing

Trystan Reese felt grateful that he was able to become pregnant and give birth. But for parents about to transition, there are steps they can take to preserve their fertility.

LGBTQ+ couples face many hurdles to biological reproduction.

Building a Family as a Transgender Person

Mia Fassi’s infertility journey started when she was in her mid-30s. After unsuccessful in vitro treatments, adopting a child felt like an easy transition to consider.

African American women experience more fertility troubles than any other group.

A Woman's Journey with Infertility and Adoption

Woman's Journey with Infertility and Adoption

Canada

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

US, US Territories, Canada

US & Territories

What causes infertility, and how can assisted reproductive technologies help? Follow the journeys of people navigating fertility challenges from structural inequalities and racism to falling sperm counts, egg freezing, and IVF.

Meet people struggling with infertility and the challenges of assisted reproduction.

Fighting for Fertility

Fighting for Fertility Preview

Black women have experienced long-standing social, economic, and environmental stress that leads to more adverse reproductive health outcomes.

Generations of stress impact Black women on their journey to motherhood.

How Weathering Affects Black Women's Fertility

Carlisle Companies

Viking

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In the United States, some 10% of people who wish to have children struggle with infertility. It’s especially common in the African American community, and fertility preservation can be difficult for transgender individuals as well. But why is this? And what can be done about it? NOVA explores barriers to fertility, from the social to the biological, and the state of assisted reproductive technologies. Follow the journeys of people navigating challenges from structural inequalities and racism to falling sperm counts, egg freezing, and IVF. (Premiered May 12, 2021)

Meet people struggling with infertility and the challenges of assisted reproduction.

Body & Brain

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

Arctic Sinkholes

The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.

NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022

Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

Fighting for Fertility

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Sperm Count is Decreasing in Rich Nations—and No One Knows Why

A Woman's Journey with Infertility and Adoption

How the stress of racism can harm your health—and what that has to do with Covid-19

How mechanical engineering could revolutionize the study of preterm birth

How Weathering Affects Black Women's Fertility

Life's Greatest Miracle

To Start a Family, This Woman Turned to Egg Freezing

Building a Family as a Transgender Person

The pandemic disrupted tens of thousands of IVF cycles

Placenta: The Incredible Organ You Make During Pregnancy

Fighting for Fertility

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Explore More

Sperm Count is Decreasing in Rich Nations—and No One Knows Why

A Woman's Journey with Infertility and Adoption

How the stress of racism can harm your health—and what that has to do with Covid-19

How mechanical engineering could revolutionize the study of preterm birth

How Weathering Affects Black Women's Fertility

Life's Greatest Miracle

To Start a Family, This Woman Turned to Egg Freezing

Building a Family as a Transgender Person

The pandemic disrupted tens of thousands of IVF cycles

Placenta: The Incredible Organ You Make During Pregnancy

Fighting for Fertility