The most advanced stick....
On Friday, Jennifer McLain told me about a ridiculous ad she saw on TV for a new, home pregnancy test. The tagline was somewhere along these lines: "It's the most advanced stick you'll ever pee on!"
Come Monday morning, I see this in my inbox:
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REPRODUCTIVE CENTER TO OFFER PIONEERING TEST OF A WOMAN'S BIOLOGICAL CLOCK
Plan Ahead™ Test Offers Most Accurate Measurement of a Woman's Biological Clock
Beverly Hills, CA - May 16, 2008 - Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC) has joined forces with Repromedix Corp, the nation's leading diagnostic laboratory for fertility testing, to offer the PlanAhead™ test, a cutting edge test measuring a woman's biological clock. PlanAhead is an innovative blood test that provides a much more convenient, accurate and less costly method of assessing a woman's supply of eggs, by combining several factors such as the measurement of ovary-related hormones AMH, Inhibin B, and FSH.
The flack asked if our paper would be interested in this "ground-breaking new test."
I think not.
As if there wasn't enough pressure for women to procreate....
Don't let Councilman John Nunez see that commercial. He'd probably want women to pee on his stick too! Sorry; too far?
Given that 1) fertility tests cost money; 2) fertility tests are probably not covered by your health insurance; 3) about 1/5 of the population doesn't have health insurance, anyway, I'd think there'd be a pretty big market for this, assuming it works.
I don't see this as putting pressure on women to procreate; I think this is more about knowing when it's time to seek medical intervention (and WHO) should be seeking medical intervention if they're having sex and not getting pregnant.
OK, now, just for the fun of it, I'm going to type some more semi-colons: ;;;;;;;