The story I’m looking for was published in one of the SF mags in the late 80s, early 90s, and concerns a ‘plague’ that causes women—eventually, all the women in the world—to become sterile. After several years, scientists come up with, not a ‘cure’, but a solution. A woman can conceive if she eats this bland paste, and nothing BUT this bland paste, for at least 30 days. One slip, and she has to start over again.
It’s never explicitly said, but the implication is there that the scientists who come up with this solution were also responsible for the plague in the first place and deliberately infected the population.
Well, I think I’d remember if it was by Sturgeon, since I’ve always loved his work so dearly. I can’t seem to find a plot summary of it on the web, so I can’t be certain. Other suggestions?
I remember reading that story but I cannot remember the title. And the women weren’t sterile but rather could only ovulate after taking drugs that made them nauseous and their hair to fall out.
A man is seducing women into sleeping with them by telling them he doesn’t want an affair, but just a romantic interlude (think the movie Don Juan DeMarco). The purpose of the seduction is to transmit a type of venereal disease (condoms won’t help) that makes it very difficult for a woman to conceive – she has to go through some long process for it to work. The kicker is the end: the man spreading the virus is asked why he did it and he says, “So there will never be an unwanted child.”