Listener supported, WNYC Studios.

It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC.

I'm Amina Serna, filling in for Brian today.

Now we'll take a closer look at in vitro fertilization, also known as IVF.

IVF is the most common type of infertility treatment in the United States.

More than 8 million babies have been born via IVF since 1978. That's according to

the Cleveland Clinic. And IVF is only growing in popularity. About four in 10 Americans, that's 42

percent, say they've used fertility treatments or personally know somebody who has in 2023. That's up from 33%

in 2018, according to Pew. The demand has created an industry to store frozen embryos that have

yet or may never get implanted to go on and become babies. Beyond the personal ethics, the fate of those

embryos is also a political story.

President Trump recently declared himself the, quote,

fertilization president, while touting efforts to expand IVF.

But at the same time, the team that tracked how well in vitro fertilization worked across the U.S.

was a ruptly cut as part of the sweeping layoffs at the

Department of Health and Human Services. A new three-part series for the New York Times

explores the legal and ethical considerations people have to manage when they create embryos as part

of the IVF process. We're joined now by its author. Anna Marie, Anna Louis Sussman is a freelance journalist covering

gender, economics, health, and reproduction. And I welcome to WMIC. Thank you so much for having me,

Amina. And listeners will open up the phones now for people who have gone, undergone IVF. the process in general is so underreported that

maybe you just want to share your journey how did it go and what do you wish people would

know about it and for those of you who have embryos in storage in particular do you want to

...