Ukraine is experiencing a severe decline in birthrate and, with the full-scale invasion, the decline has accelerated with births dropping by roughly 28% after February 2022. This drop is due to displacement, casualties, and uncertainty. Ukraine’s government initiative is paying troops to freeze their sperm in response to this “demographic catastrophe”.
In a different story about reproduction and low birth rates, New Mexico joins Vermont and California in investigating how, in the 1970s, the U.S. agency that provides health care to indigenous people, sterilized thousands of women without their full and informed consent. This practice deprived them the opportunity to start or grow families and obviously impacting birth rates among indigenous people. In addition to facilitating the investigation, the New Mexico legislature has also laid the groundwork to create a separate healing commission and for formal acknowledgment of the history of the practice.
