More than 35 years ago, Louise Brown captured the world’s attention as the first test-tube baby—conceived in a petri dis

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More than 35 years ago, Louise Brown captured the world’sattention as the first test-tube baby—conceived in a petri dishinstead of in her mother-to-be’s body. Today, this reproductivetechnology is no longer experimental; it is used more than 140,000times annually by American women and produces more than 55,000babies each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2013). Many new techniques are available to couples who cannotconceive a child through sexual intercourse. The best-knowntechnique, in vitro fertilization, involves mixing sperm and eggstogether in a petri dish and then placing several fertilized eggsin the woman’s uterus, with the hope that they will becomeimplanted in the uterine wall. Other methods include injecting manysperm directly into the Fallopian tubes or a single sperm directlyinto an egg. The sperm and eggs usually come from the prospectiveparents, but sometimes they are provided by donors. Typically, thefertilized eggs are placed in the uterus of the prospective mother,but sometimes they are placed in the uterus of a surrogate motherwho carries the baby to term. This means that a baby could have asmany as five “parents”: the man and woman who provided the spermand eggs; the surrogate mother who carried the baby; and the motherand father who rear the baby. New reproductive techniques offerhope for couples who have long wanted a child, and studies of thefirst generation of children conceived via these techniquesindicate that their social and emotional development is normal(Golombok, 2013). But there are difficulties as well. Only aboutone third of attempts at in vitro fertilization succeed. What’smore, when a woman becomes pregnant, she is more likely to havetwins or triplets because multiple eggs are transferred to increasethe odds that at least one fertilized egg implants in the woman’suterus. (An extreme example of this would be “Octomom,” a woman whohad octuplets following in vitro fertilization.) She is also atgreater risk for giving birth to a baby with low birth weight orbirth defects. Finally, the procedure is expensive—the average costin the United States of a single cycle of treatment is between$10,000 and $15,000—and often is not covered by health insurance.These problems emphasize that, although technology has increasedthe alternatives for infertile couples, pregnancy on demand isstill in the realm of science fiction. At the same time, the newtechnologies have led to much controversy because of some complexethical issues associated with their use. One concerns theprospective parents’ right to select particular egg and spermcells; another involves who should be able to use this technology.Pick Your Egg and Sperm Cells from a Catalog Until recently,prospective parents knew nothing about egg and sperm donors. Today,however, they are sometimes able to select eggs and sperm based onphysical and psychological characteristics of the donors, includingappearance and race. Some claim that such prospective parents havea right to be fully informed about the person who provides thegenetic material for their baby. Others argue that this amounts toeugenics, which is the effort to improve the human species byallowing only certain people to mate and pass along their genes tosubsequent generations. Available to All Most couples who use invitro fertilization are in their 30s and 40s, but a number of olderwomen have begun to use the technology. Many of these women cannotconceive naturally because they have gone through menopause and nolonger ovulate. Some argue that it is unfair to a child to haveparents who may not live until the child reaches adulthood. Otherspoint out that people are living longer and that middle-age (orolder) adults make better parents.
List and briefly describe three different types of assistedreproductive technology that might be utilized by a couple whowants to have a child but has fertility problems.