I’m currently developing a short sci-fi film about birth control that focuses on the concept of genetic modification, the women in this world being born infertile/sterile. What I need more information on is how this would effect development/puberty. If a women didn’t have a menstrual cycle, but still had reproductive organs, would they still go through puberty; grow breasts, pubic hair etc? I’m assuming the onset of puberty is what starts the menstrual cycle, and if so, how different would hormone production be if there was no cycle?
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This depends on what effect you want. If you want puberty, menstruation, etc. making the eggs non-viable would be the way to go. This way normal biology is preserved, but fertilization does not occur. One way to do this may be to make them unable to complete meiosis. Alternatively, oocyte agenesis (but preserving the rest of the follicle), complete failure of follicle rupture (maybe with resorption of content, see PCOS) will achieve the same effect.
If you don’t want sexual maturity (lose all secondary sexual characteristics), then you can play around with the production or response to GnRH, FSH/LH, oestrogen/progesterone (each hormone from left to right stimulates production of the next one), not having ovaries.
You can try physical methods as well, such as uterine agenesis (although you may need to provide ovum cleanup methods) or extreme imperforate hymen (may be surgically managed; blood and ovum cleanup required).
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