The number of women without a partner having children by IVF or sperm donation has trebled in the past 10 years. IVF itself is not unproblematic; provision on the NHS varies wildly, with hurdles and prohibitions that range from random to downright cruel. There are trusts that won’t offer it over the age of 35, others that won’t if her partner has children from a previous relationship. Private clinics, meanwhile, can prey on people, gouging them for add-on treatments, exploiting hopes they know are unrealistic. Egg freezing – where numbers are also at a record high – is a similar racket, with the sector often accused of misleading promises or understating risks, and prices very high: the process typically costs £7,000. Fertility treatment, whether solo or with a partner, is not for sissies. Yet women’s increasing confidence to do it outside of a traditional partnership illustrates a sea change in attitudes to how families are made, and a positive one.

It’s nearly 20 years since two obstetricians, Susan Bewley and Melanie Davies, published Which Career First: The most secure age for childbearing remains 20 to 35. I remember interviewing them at the time, feeling vexed by this intervention. In the surrounding media environment, various other ways of policing, judging and problematising female autonomy –........

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