National Perinatal Association Urges IVF Clinics to Reduce Infant Health Risks and Costs by Prioritizing Elective Single Embryo Transfer
By Press Release,
National Perinatal Association
| 03. 17. 2014
Binghamton, NY –For the first time in its history, the National Perinatal Association (NPA), representing U.S. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) professionals and parents of babies cared for in NICUs, is urging reproductive endocrinologists and health insurance companies to reduce serious health risks resulting from in vitro fertilization procedures. In particular, they urge greater use of the safer elective single embryo transfer now recommended by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
The NPA’s new Position Statement on the Ethical Use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) was just released in the March 2014 edition of the journal, Neonatology Today. It calls for more transparent and multidisciplinary patient education, counseling and informed consent practices, along with expanded public awareness about higher rates of serious health, emotional and financial risks associated with ART and multiple birth pregnancies. The NPA is recommending that health insurance companies provide reimbursement only when clinics meet “professional standards” and report mandated success rates annually to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The NPA represents medical professionals in this country responsible for providing care to thousands...
Related Articles
Several recent Biopolitical Times posts (1, 2, 3, 4) have called attention to the alarmingly rapid commercialization of “designer baby” technologies: polygenic embryo screening (especially its use to purportedly screen for traits like intelligence), in vitro gametogenesis (lab-made eggs and sperm), and heritable genome editing (also termed embryo editing or reproductive gene editing). Those three, together with artificial wombs, have been dubbed the “Gattaca stack” by Brian Armstrong, CEO of the cryptocurrency company...
By Lucy Tu, The Guardian | 11.05.2025
Beth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother’s pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either...
By Emily Glazer, Katherine Long, Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal | 11.08.2025
For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.
Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called...
By Robyn Vinter, The Guardian | 11.09.2025
A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric boast for a Facebook profile page, but then this is no mundane corner of the internet. The group where Rod...