Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Extra embryos | Morning Newsletter

And evictions resume

Emily Hicks at home with her two children Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Hicks and her wife had extra embryos and ended up donating them via Facebook to a gay male couple. She was turned off by the fact that many of the major embryo donation organizations were anti-gay. The couple has two kids who are genetically related to the embryos she donated. (They are okay with face of son and back of daughter but not names)
Emily Hicks at home with her two children Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Hicks and her wife had extra embryos and ended up donating them via Facebook to a gay male couple. She was turned off by the fact that many of the major embryo donation organizations were anti-gay. The couple has two kids who are genetically related to the embryos she donated. (They are okay with face of son and back of daughter but not names)Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    by Taylor Allen
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

Happy Tuesday. It’s likely to be cloudy throughout the day with a high of 81. Allergy sufferers, beware. September is creeping up, and it’s bringing the start of ragweed season. If you begin waking up sneezing and rubbing your eyes more, this might be why.

Our lead story explores the role social media plays in the ecosystem of donated embryo transfers.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

📱The world of embryo donations

Ryann Hendrickson had leftover embryos: fertilized eggs she created with her husband’s sperm through vitro fertilization.

She no longer needed them for her family. Instead of throwing them away, she messaged a popular IVF account on Instagram.

In Philly and around the country, there’s an energetic network of Facebook moderators and Instagram influencers who connect donors and intended parents. Several of the posts are like dating profiles, sharing aspects of their lives like wedding photos, jobs, and hobbies.

Important note: Social media has made it easier for families to avoid rigid religious requirements of some embryo donations groups. Since the 1990s, conservative Christian organizations have dominated the space.

Although donated embryo transfers are a small percentage of all embryo transfers each year, the annual number more than tripled nationwide in the last 15 years.

Continue reading to learn more about what the democratization of genetic material looks like.

Philly’s for-profit evictions can resume

Philadelphia’s landlord-tenant office scheduled a string of tenant lockouts to continue on Tuesday.

This ends a monthlong pause of the city’s for-profit eviction system.

A quick recap: Court officials ordered the city’s landlord-tenant officer, Marisa Shuter, to pause evictions in late July after one of her officers shot Kensington resident Latese Bethea in the leg during an attempted lockout. This was the second time in four months that a tenant was shot by one of Shuter’s officers.

The landlord-tenant office announced last week that it introduced new guidelines for lockouts that would “address use-of-force and de-escalation” tactics to stop violence.

Keep reading to learn details of the revamped lockout guidelines.

What you should know today

  1. Donald Trump’s bond is set at $200,000 ahead of his surrender to authorities in the Georgia case that accuses the former president of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

  2. According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report, a runaway SEPTA trolley’s brakes were disabled before it derailed and crashed last month.

  3. Philadelphia Police identified the man who was fatally shot at a West Philly block party early Saturday morning as 19-year-old Kevin July.

  4. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry rents two district offices from a developer who is charged with attacking police officers with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

  5. Firefighters are working to contain a wildfire that swelled to 1,200 acres in Wharton State Forest on the border of Camden and Burlington Counties.

  6. Tapster, the new Center City bar, opened with 54 self-service taps for beer, wine, cocktails, and more.

  7. More than a third of couples who got married last year chose lab-grown engagement rings.

🧠 Trivia time 🧠

The world’s largest bounce house, aptly named The Big Bounce, made its Philly debut last week at the Navy Yard.

How tall is it?

A) 22 feet

B) 30 feet

C) 32 feet

D) 40 feet

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re...

👀 Watching: Developer Ori Feibush is suing Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke for $2 million in damages over a North Philly apartment building.

💭Imagining: What it’s like to spend a few days at Mount Gretna, the only municipality in Pennsylvania part of the late 19th-century Chautauqua movement dedicated to arts, religion, recreation, and education for adults.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩

Hint: A Philly opera legend

RANSOM ADRIANNE

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Mike Vaupel, who correctly guessed Monday’s answer: James Harden. Email us if you know the answer.

Photo of the day

That’s all I have for you for this morning. Have a great day, and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow.