Infertility Centers

One of the major questions raised in recent years in the bioethics community concerns the unregulated nature of infertility centers. It's an issue that has drawn the interest of President George W. Bush whose Council on Bioethics is investigating everything from traditional treatments to experimental practices.

Since the birth of the first "test-tube baby" 25 years ago, more than one million babies have been born with the assistance of IVF, and it's estimated that one in six couples faces fertility issues. The concerns of many, including the President's Council, are that there is no regulatory oversight ensuring sound medical practices and limits on experimentation, and that there is no independent reporting of costs, success rates, and treatment developments.

The Council's recent proposals include:

• The government should fund studies to monitor the long-term health of IVF babies, and health effects of related techniques such as genetic screening that require removal of cells from the tiny days-old embryo. While there aren't huge health concerns, there are some reports of slightly higher birth-defect rates with certain IVF techniques.
• Congress should ban the transfer of a human embryo to a woman's uterus for any purpose other than to produce a live-born child; attempts to conceive "by any means other than the union of egg and sperm;" production of human-animal hybrids or the transfer, for any purpose, of a human embryo into an animal's womb.
• Congress should limit scientific research on human embryos to no more than 10 to 14 days after fertilization, a timeframe similar to one Britain mandates. Experts say such research usually involves even younger embryos.
• The government should require better infertility clinic reporting of how often different IVF procedures are used, genetic embryo screening and gender selection; and average prices, including the total cost of the multiple attempts usually required for a successful pregnancy.