In March of this year, the Chicago Tribune published an article sounding the alarm over in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The Pro-Life movement has opposed IVF since its beginnings because the process involves the discarding of “extra fertilized eggs” (newly developing human beings). More recently, the surplus fertilized eggs are being frozen and stored for use in future pregnancies or donated for research.

There is now evidence from a study published in the New England Medical Journal suggesting that babies conceived by IVF have a 1 in 10 risk of birth defects, twice the risk of babies born naturally. The defects included holes in their hearts, one kidney instead of two, brain abnormalities, and cleft lips and palettes. Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Washington Universities found that IVF children have a sixfold increase in Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, a rare hereditary disorder which causes malformations and cancer.

A previous study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology in February found severe abnormalities in the eyes of IVF children, including cataracts and glaucoma. Dr. Irene Anteby, co-author of the study, commented: “Since no family history of such conditions was present, one assumption is that IVF is responsible for chromosomal aberrations during the process.” She also suggested that it can be inferred that other organs are likely to be affected in the same manner.

Multiple pregnancies are another problem with IVF. The United States has the world’s highest rate of multiple births, largely because of the spread of IVF. The result has been “pregnancy reduction” where one or more of the babies are killed supposedly to increase the chances for a healthy delivery of the remaining baby or babies.

Increasingly, concerns have been raised over the new IVF technique that allows women to become pregnant using their own frozen ova. The University of Barcelona and the Drexeus Institute found that the chromosomes of the frozen ova become disordered during the thawing process leading to an embryo having too few or too many chromosomes.

As all of these concerns are raised, fertility experts have rushed to caution that the studies are small and not enough study has been done or that the problems could be caused by genetic problems in the woman that prevented her from getting pregnant in the first place or the use of fertility drugs before IVF is attempted. Others suggest that because IVF babies are closely watched, the defects are discovered sooner than they might be seen in babies born naturally.

The U.S. does not require follow-up statistics on birth defects diagnosed in the first year. Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics said: “We’re way overdue for this kind of study. It is unacceptable that we haven’t made this comparison earlier.”

Mary Anne Hackett