Ethics and the Regulation of Innovative Technologies in Human Reproduction
On July 25, 1978 in England, Louise Brown became the first baby born by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Three years later, Elizabeth Carr followed suit as the first “test tube baby” born in the United States. Since then, much has changed in the field of human reproduction. Once reported “with a fervor not seen since the first moon landing,” the birth of a child from IVF now accounts for more than one in sixty births in the UK, approximately one in eighty babies in the United States, and assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) constitute a burgeoning medical practice worldwide. More than three million children have been created by IVF; the United States alone can boast of more than 41,300 births per year resulting in 54,600 babies per year (due to twins, triplets, and higher order multiple gestations) and generating an annual revenue of nearly 3 billion dollars.