. They have three kids, are aiming for seven to 13, and lead numerous initiatives aimed at reversing birth-rate decline.
— worry about the effect of fertility decline on economic stagnation. Skittish East Asian governments are spending heavily on programs to incentivize childbearing. Yet to many on the left, there remains something discomfiting about the subject. The Collinses have been called “hipster eugenicists,” partly because they did genetic testing on their embryos before conceiving and partly because of the “Great Replacement” connotations. Malcolm argues his liberal critics have it backward.
Turek hypothesizes that there is a divide between clinicians like him and “Ph.D.’s who run statistics” from above. “I think those of us on the ground don’t see it,” he says. “I’m a surgeon. I don’t get alarmed.” When he sees sperm problems, he attributes it to behavioral factors. “Sometimes it’s a hot tub, or obesity, or tobacco,” he says. “Sometimes it’s hormonal; sometimes it’s a flu, fever, COVID. But I would say 90 percent of the time I can figure it out.
Kteily thinks the trend lines are worrisome enough to justify buying a backup plan. Besides, maybe Legacy can one day transcend its current offerings. Sperm is understood as a biomarker for overall health, and the semen in cryostorage might contain valuable data. “Imagine we could tell you, ‘Hey, you smoke. You stop smoking, your sperm motility is going to go up by 10 percent. And we know this because we have 100 people like you,’” Kteily figures. Still, he anticipates the criticism.