現(xiàn)在，越來越多的美國女性選擇晚一點再要孩子。而生育追蹤和試管嬰兒等技術的出現(xiàn)，則幫助了女性能夠在她們想要的時候懷孕。

在本周三召開的《財富》腦力風暴健康大會上，與會專家們暢談了這些生育技術的前景與局限，并暢想了它們將對人類未來的生育模式帶來哪些影響。

一些公司認為，女性在生育上的首要問題是缺乏生育方面的知識。如生殖預測公司Celmatix的產品總監(jiān)安吉?李就表示：“越來越多的女性對她們的生殖健康缺乏一個基本的了解。”Clematix公司建立了世界上第一種針對生殖健康的全面基因篩查，從而能夠幫助女性評估她們的生殖健康風險。“有些不孕不育的女性會說：‘我真希望我能早知道這些問題。’我們希望這項篩查能幫助女性提早了解這些信息。”

在生殖領域的創(chuàng)新還不止于此，終有一天，這些技術能讓更多不孕不育的父母懷上他們朝思暮想的孩子——比如近來引起很大爭議的“三父母試管嬰兒”技術。不過目前這種技術的試驗還只能在美國以外的國家進行。比如三父母試管嬰兒技術研發(fā)者之一、新希望生殖醫(yī)學中心主任張進（John Zhang）醫(yī)生就曾表示：“我花了20年時間才意識到我們的國家是如此的保守”。

就連一些已經被廣泛應用的技術也依然存在著一定的阻礙。比如不孕不育癥的治療費用經常是相當高昂的，而且卵子冷凍等技術又不一定總能保證懷孕。耶魯大學婦產科與生殖醫(yī)學臨床教授瑪麗?簡?米肯表示：“我們不能保證一定會成功，這仍是一個新生事物。”

盡管存在以上這些問題，但是對于很多女人來說，有了一種選擇總比走投無路要強得多。生殖記錄公司Glow的副董事長兼美國運營總監(jiān)詹妮弗?泰伊表示：“卵子和胚胎冷凍技術給了你更多的時間，我認為這為女性賦予了更多可能。”

目前生殖醫(yī)學技術面臨的種種限制不免令人感到失望，但專家們普遍認為，未來依然是充滿希望的。米肯指出，當下女性也有很多辦法可以改善自己的生殖健康，比如保持健康的體重，不要吸煙，提前了解家族中的其他女性都是在什么年齡絕經的，等等。（財富中文網）

本文原載于Time.com。

譯者：樸成奎

More women in the United States are having children later in life, and the emergence of technologies like fertility trackers and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are helping women conceive at a point in their life they prefer.

At the Fortune Brainstorm Health Conference on Wednesday, experts debated the promises and limitations of these kinds of frontier technologies—and speculated on what kind of impact they would have on the future of fertility.

Some companies are tackling what they see as the first problem: a lack of knowledge about fertility. “More and more women need a basic understanding of their reproductive health,” says Angie Lee, chief product officer of Celmatix, a fertility-prediction company. Celmatix created the world’s first comprehensive genetic screening test for reproductive health, which helps women assess their risk for fertility problems. “Women who are experiencing infertility will say, ‘I wish I had known.’ We want to empower women to have as much of that information up front.”

Innovations further down the line, like IVF that uses DNA from three parents, could one day help more couples who are struggling to conceive. But currently, experimentation for these technologies is limited to countries outside the U.S. “It took me 20 years to realize our country is very conservative,” said Dr. John Zhang, founder and director of New Hope Fertility Clinic and one of the creators of the technique used for the world’s first three-person baby.

Even some of the more widely available techniques can still have obstacles. Fertility-related treatments can be prohibitively expensive, and options like egg freezing, for example, don’t always lead to pregnancy. “We don’t have guarantees,” said Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences at Yale University. “It’s still a new process.”

Yet despite the issues, having a choice still feels better for many women than having no option at all. “The ability to freeze eggs or embryos to give you a little more time, I think, is empowering,” said Jennifer Tye, vice president and head of U.S. Operations at the fertility tracking company, Glow.

The limitations of current technologies can be frustrating, but experts are hopeful for the future. As for right now, Minkin points out that there’s plenty that women can do to improve their fertility profile: maintain a healthy weight, don’t smoke and find out what age women in your family typically go through menopause.

This article originally appeared in Time.com