Adam Ruins Everything's Video About Fertility After 35 Is a Must-Watch

Adam ruins everything. Except when he's delivering a badly needed dose of reality on an issue we've been misled about for years, decades, actually centuries. Like: how rapidly a woman's fertility declines after age 35. How rapidly? Not as much as we've been led to believe. 

We won't ruin the video for you if you haven't seen it already. It's one of the best in "investigative comedian" Adam Conover's all-encompassing Adam Ruins Everything video series. Just a couple of things:

1) "An average woman, age 27, who is healthy has an 86 percent chance of getting pregnant within a year," says researcher Jean Twenge in the video. At age 37, the chance of the same woman getting pregnant in a year dips slightly down to 82 percent. "That's barely a difference!" says the puzzled guy in the video. Exactly.

2) The fertility data most women hear about, i.e. that it becomes much harder to become pregnant after 35, is based on 17th century French studies. Again, thanks to Jean Twenge for uncovering the outdated info that's been freaking women out for much too long.

Caveat: Pregnancy later in life does carry some risks, but again the risks are often over-stated and taken out of context. Also: The pros and cons of egg-freezing are more complex than this video lets on. Egg-freezing does create a reassuring plan B (or C) for women who are willing to spend the money and take their chances, and many women argue that the increased confidence it creates is priceless. Like we said, it's complicated. 

That said, we're happy this video exists. Please watch, share, and discuss.