Reproductive technologies

Since the first In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) birth in 1978 (fertilization of an egg with sperm in the laboratory, with the resulting embryo transferred to the mother’s womb), more than 1 000,000 children have been born worldwide as a result of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).  In first world nations, approximately 1% of births per year are from ART. These children (and their parents) represent a significant group and will become an important client group as adults.

Advances in reproductive technology have had an extreme effect on the way families are created. It is now possible for a child to have five parents: an egg donor, a sperm donor, a birth mother (pregnancy host) and the two parents the child calls Mum and Dad.

The literature examining the possible risks this mode of conception may have for a child’s psychosocial development – social, emotional, behavioural and psychological – is limited. Research tends to focus more on how ART affects physical development and the risk of birth defects.

See also...

• What do we know?
• What can be done?
• According to experts