POV: It’s Time to Regulate the Fertility Industry
        
            By George Annas, 
                Boston University Today
             | 07. 16. 2015
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
             
  Untitled Document 
  
The fertility industry is big business. There are more than 450   fertility clinics in the United States alone, and their assisted   reproduction technology (ART) procedures result in about 50,000 live   birth deliveries and 62,000 infants a year (some deliveries involve   multiple babies). This is about 1.5 percent of all live births, but 5.7   percent of all low-birth-weight babies. Of ART babies, 36 percent are   born prematurely (compared to 12 percent of non-ART babies). Multiple   births can put both mother and babies at risk. Singletons account for   about 55 percent of all ART infants, with 42 percent twins and 3 percent   triplets or more. This compares to 97 percent of all non-ART births   that are singletons. This incredibly high incidence of multiple births   and premature infants in ART is a problem that has yet to be effectively   addressed, although transferring single embryos seems likely to be the   primary solution.
 
  The fertility industry responds to a real need and helps many couples   have children they could not otherwise have. Nonetheless, because of   the intense desire on the part of patients...
 
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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