IVF Baby Boom: Births From Fertility Procedures Hit New High

More couples than ever are turning to in vitro fertilization to help build families.

In 2012, more than 61,000 babies were conceived with the help of IVF, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology reported Monday.

That means IVF babies made up 1.5 percent of the 3.9 million births in the U.S, the agency wrote on its website. And it makes 2012 the biggest year for IVF on record: Doctors performed the most procedures and delivered the most IVF babies.

Over the past decade, the number of IVF treatments has been rising. Doctors performed about 113,000 cycles back in 2003. That number jumped by nearly 50 percent to about 165,000 in 2012.

"A lot of individuals — specifically women — are choosing to develop their careers, and they're having great opportunities, " says Charles Coddington III, an OB-GYN at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and president of SART. "So a lot of them are getting older before they have children, and they are needing more IVF services."

At the same time, the number of high-risk multiple births from the treatment...