IVF was long considered controversial and ethically dubious

IVF procedures fertilize eggs outside the body in a laboratory dish

In vitro fertilization is a complex and expensive set of procedures that potential parents dealing with infertility or genetic disorders may turn to when other methods are unavailable. IVF births account for 2% to 3% of all live births in the US annually.

IVF is legal across America, but some worry that state bans could curtail this reproductive technology

This reproductive technology is available across the US, but if states take action to prohibit the discarding of unused embryos or pass related legislation, it could affect access to IVF. Laws prohibiting IVF or effectively outlawing the procedure by defining personhood as being conferred at the moment of conception have been under discussion in several states in recent years, including Ohio, Virginia, and Texas.

How to consider the ethics of 3-parent IVF, which is illegal in the US

Ethical concerns with this controversial procedure include that a little bit of a child's offspring would be from a third person and that the decisions made with this pregnancy will affect numerous generations, making a permanent change to the gene pool.

Scientific advances are unlocking a wide range of alternatives to IVF

From refined artificial insemination and microsurgical sperm extraction to experimental uterine transplants, scientific innovation is rapidly advancing potential fertilization technologies. But they come along with costly trials, some ethical dilemmas, regulatory issues, and more.

A step-by-step overview of the IVF process

In-vitro fertilization involves a sequence of complex steps to move from egg production to birth. This include stimulating egg production in the ovaries, egg harvesting and fertilization outside the body, embryo culturing and transfer, and methods to support in and increase the likelihood of full-term pregnancy.

How two families navigated an unthinkable IVF mistake

The field offers hope to thousands of families annually, but it is also largely unregulated, and for a small number of parents, things can go terribly wrong.

A 2024 court ruling has had ripple effects for frozen embryos

The Alabama Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that embryos created through IVF are legally children has had a chilling effect on the fertility industry. A few centers for reproductive assistance paused egg fertilization, and others are questioning where the legal argument will lead. The decision has some surprising implications for the future of IVF technology, including techniques that haven't yet been invented.

About 250,000 patients accessed assisted reproductive technologies in 2022

In 2022, 251,542 patients tried assisted reproductive technologies—most commonly IVF—resulting in more than 98,000 infants. Those children represent around 2.6% of the babies born in the US.

Follow an IVF procedure from lab to transplant

What happens once eggs are harvested from an ovary? How does an embryo form within a petri dish? This detailed video offers a glimpse of the transformations eggs experience as women age, and how sperm are injected into eggs in some forms of IVF treatment.

The average number of IVF cycles before a viable pregnancy is 2.5

Health insurance often does not cover IVF treatment, and Medicaid coverage for fertility services differs by state. As a result, the cost of IVF is often unrealistic for low-income families.

The first successful IVF pregnancy was in the United Kingdom in 1978

Gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and his collaborator Robert Edwards, a biologist, attempted to fertilize a human egg cell in a petri dish 101 times before finally succeeding. This resulted in the birth of Louise Brown—at the time referred to as a "test tube" baby—in 1978, who was born into the spotlight.

Calculate your chance of success for IVF treatments

The efficacy of in vitro fertilization procedures varies widely based on age, health history, genetics, and more. This CDC calculator provides an estimate of success rates based on your personal information, relying on thousands of reported outcomes across the US.

In vitro gametogenesis: using induced stem cells to fertilize eggs

Using stem cells from skin and mouth cells could save hopeful parents time and money and spare egg donors from significant amounts of discomfort throughout the process. There are potential consequences, not just for infertility treatment, but for the ability to create customized cells of any type.

Four frozen embryos in the US were created via 3-parent IVF technique

Columbia University researchers created four embryos using mitochondrial replacement therapy for four female patients who didn't want to pass on mitochondrial diseases to their children. Yet US law restricts the researchers from implanting the embryos so they remain frozen. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

The history of ectogenesis and artificial wombs

While the science of artificial wombs is new, the idea goes back to a 1923 Heretics Society of the University of Cambridge lecture where an English biologist was one of the first people to propose an egg could be fertilized outside the womb. This...

AI can aid fertility treatments, from helping select egg candidates to laboratory automation

Reproductive AI technologies are already here, from processing vast amounts of data to helping clinicians identify the healthiest embryos for implantation. It could be a boon to the fertility industry, and help mitigate the shortage of experienced embryologists.

Explore this interactive visualization of the IVF journey as a parent or child

Australia legalized 3-parent IVF in 2022

It was the second country, after the UK, to legalize the procedure, which is still prohibited in the US. There are more than 300 rare mitochondrial diseases that can be passed from a mother to her offspring.

The science and ethics of artificial wombs

Artificial wombs may be able to help preterm babies survive their early entry into the world and possibly curb the long-term adverse health effects associated with such premature birth. This article dives into the current ethics and science behind artificial wombs and ectogenesis, which is when a fetus develops in artificial conditions.

3-parent IVF removes most—but not all—faulty mitochondria

The process scoops out about 99% of the mother's mitochondrial DNA—replacing it with that of a donor woman—but because that roughly 1% is still in the system there is still a small chance of disease for the resulting child or future generations. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Eight British children have been born via mitochondrial replacement therapy

In July 2025, a decade after British lawmakers signed off on allowing three-parent IVF, scientists announced that eight healthy babies had already been born using this approach. The news was included in a pair of research articles published in a peer-reviewed journal that noted the oldest kids were already more than two years old, and that they were hitting developmental milestones as expected. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Scientists have demonstrated IVF to help critically endangered rhinos

Scientists have used the technique to create embryos from eggs harvested from captive southern white rhinos and implanted into a southern white rhino. They hope to use this proof of concept to eventually use IVF to revive the population of northern white rhinos, which are extinct in the wild and have no living males left, using a precious reserve of frozen embryos and a surrogate southern white rhino mother.

Fertility treatments linked to increased risk of cancer among offspring

Recent research has explored potential links between increased childhood cancer occurrence, particularly leukemia, and assisted reproductive technology (ART). Though some studies have detected this type of association, researchers caution that it remains unclear if ART itself, fertility drugs, underlying infertility of the parents, or other unknown factors may explain any increased cancer numbers among ART-conceived children. Overall, the incidence of cancer in children, regardless of conception method, is very low.

The US FDA considered mitochondrial replacement therapy during 2014 hearings

An agency committee assessed if this approach could have undesirable ripple effects across multiple generations and whether a clinical trial involving this approach would be appropriate. As of 2026, the US has continued to prohibit this procedure though it is legal in other settings including the UK and Australia.

3-parent baby approach may help women with infertility

Though the topline promise of this approach is avoiding passing on mitochondrial diseases, some researchers and companies have been eyeing its potential for helping with female infertility, since faculty mitochondria may contribute to the condition. Recent research suggests this approach could be promising.

Infertility is often not discussed, forcing women and families to grieve privately

Watch this podcast discussion from Weill Cornell Medicine about the emotional journey of infertility for couples and individuals and hear advice about how to navigate the feelings of loss of control, grief, anger, and despair, including suggested tips for supporting individuals struggling with infertility.

3-parent baby technique fuels worries of future 'designer babies'

Some critics of this approach worry that any genetic manipulation will both culturally and technologically normalize the idea of "designer babies"—embryos that are manipulated or selected based on physiological characteristics including height, eye color, athletic ability, and intelligence.

A scientist successfully treated her own breast cancer by injecting the tumor with lab-grown viruses.

Mitochondrial DNA swapping can occur before or after fertilization

Mitochondrial replacement therapy can be conducted with four different techniques, with varying genetic material transferred depending on the approach. Maternal spindle transfer, one common method, involves transplanting the nuclear DNA from a mother into an unfertilized egg from a donor. The donor egg is then fertilized and implanted into the mother's uterus using in vitro fertilization. Another major approach, pronuclear transfer, does the genetic swapping after the mother's egg has already been fertilized. This order of operations may be uncomfortable for some individuals, but the success rate with this technique is higher.

Selecting an embryo based on polygenic score is illegal in the UK, Israel, and swaths of Europe

Though their use for embryo selection is illegal in many locations, private clinics in the US may offer polygenic scores to inform embryo selection. The US Food and Drug Administration has not banned their use—instead the tests are regulated like supplements, meaning they are not regulated before they come to market but consumers can file complaints and then the agency may take action.

Without 3-parent IVF, women carrying faulty mitochondrial DNA have few options for children

Women who are carriers of mitochondrial diseases that wish to have children without those conditions cannot be biological parents without three-parent IVF. The alternatives are to adopt or have a child via egg donation.

Six of history's most unethical human experiments, from deliberate flu exposure to withholding syphilis treatment

Some of the progress made in mental health treatment, vaccines, blood transfusions, and more came about before the advent of consent and ethics committees, resulting in serious physical and psychological harm that participants in studies were not even anticipating.

A new AI-assisted reproductive technique is finding 'hidden' sperm cells for those with very low sperm counts

Known as the Star system—for Sperm Track and Recovery—it uses artificial intelligence to help identify and locate "hidden" sperm in men with a rare infertility condition called azoospermia. The condition affects about 1% of men, and these individuals have sperm counts low enough that the individual spermatozoa in their ejaculate may be undetectable. In late 2025, the first baby was born after the child's parents used this assistive technique to locate sperm.

Artificial wombs and preterm births: an overview

Scientists are working to create artificial wombs that would help preterm babies survive their early entry into the world. But how much help could this technology provide, and how much of a problem are preterm births? This article details some of...

France once had a reproduction czar to help midwives deliver babies

Much ado is made about falling marriage and birth rates worldwide, and how they might affect tax bases, retirement funds, and social standing. But this isn’t the first time marriage, and subsequently reproduction, have fallen out of favor. Some countries have resorted to drastic measures to restore the tarnished state of these hallowed institutions.

Triplet birth numbers are dropping—and that may be a good thing

Pregnancies involving three kids or more have dropped 62% from 1998 to 2023, a trend that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links to fewer embryo transfers during assisted reproduction procedures—a transition prompted by more refined techniques and technical advances. Though multiple births can occur naturally, often pregnancies involving multiple births have been the result of efforts to ensure pregnancy success by transferring multiple embryos.

Before vaccines, there was 'variolation': what was it?

Before the technology behind vaccinations was discovered, some keen observers of medicine around the globe noticed how previous infections could impact future ones. Learn about the techniques early physicians used before they had vaccines.

See how to make a baby with 3 parents, a process called mitochondrial replacement therapy

This primer video dives into the science of mitochondrial disease risks, how this controversial mitochondrial replacement technique can work, and why proponents say this reproductive advance—already legalized in the UK and Australia—is needed in the United States.

Scientists first observed a sperm and an egg uniting in 1876

Throughout human history, scholars and researchers have speculated on the origin of human reproduction. It wasn't until the late-19th century that the physical process of egg fertilization via sperm cells was observed (in sea urchins), forming the basis for modern fertility research.

Various pollutants may be contributing to a male infertility crisis

Male infertility, due to declining sperm counts or quality, accounts for about half of the cases of infertility among couples. Recent research has found that global sperm counts fell, on average, by 1.2% per year between 1973 and 2018—from 104 million to 49 million per milliliter. From 2000, this rate of decline accelerated to more than 2.6% per year. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Testosterone therapy can cause infertility, and has been explored as a contraceptive.

The scandal that rocked stem cell research

In 2014, a Japanese research group published a paper suggesting ordinary cells could be reverted to pluripotent stem cells by subjecting them to external stressors. The results generated interest but could never be replicated. The lead researcher was accused of fraud, and the group’s supervisor committed suicide.

Research studies can be conducted inside or outside of living samples

While "in vitro" experiments occur outside living organisms for cost-effectiveness, "in vivo" experiments take place inside them, providing real-life insights at a higher cost and with increased ethical concerns. Alternatively, "in silico" methods use computational simulations.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Silicon Valley startups Orchid, Nucleus, and Genomic Prediction are selling so-called polygenic tests for prospective parents

These tests claim to show how at-risk a hypothetical baby would be for genetic syndromes. The newfound industry has prompted ethical and medical debates, with critics questioning their accuracy and highlighting the potential problems behind pursuing the perfect baby.

It took scientists 277 attempts to successfully clone Dolly from an adult sheep mammalian cell, underscoring the immense undertaking and challenges—some of which still persist today.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Using artificial wombs to improve preterm infant health outcomes

Researchers at a hospital in the US have successfully used artificial wombs to care for preterm lambs and are now looking at the possibility of human trials. This nine-minute video includes interviews with the researchers and explains the reasoning...

Find fertility clinics and their success rates in your state

This database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a searchable portal of fertility clinics across the US, with reported data on services, total procedures performed, and live births recorded for as recently as 2022.

‘Hope for Healing’: The first-ever use of an in utero stem cell treatment

In 2023, researchers at UC Davis performed the first-ever fetal stem cell transplant, attempting to cure a case of spinal bifida prior to childbirth using stem cells derived from the placenta. The trial, and others including an effort to treat muscular dystrophy, highlight the potential power of stem cell therapy.