The Wild West of Fertility Clinics

As of 2018, in vitro fertilization (IVF) has resulted in the births of approximately 8 million babies. IVF has also created a lucrative industry in fertility services.

But this industry poses risks that remain unregulated, argue law professor Steve Calandrillo and lawyer Chryssa Deliganis. The lack of regulation has led to a “wild West” mentality in fertility clinics, where “cash is king and informed consent is optional.” With minimal regulations and hefty price tags, IVF providers have little incentive to inform patients of risks, explain Calandrillo and Deliganis. They argue that the United States needs to improve its regulation of assisted reproductive technology.

Fertility clinics use assisted reproductive technology for fertility services. The most common procedures are traditional IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Traditional IVF is a procedure in which a physician retrieves mature eggs from a patient’s ovaries, fertilizes the egg with sperm, and transfers the fertilized egg into a uterus. Many patients prefer IVF over earlier assisted reproduction techniques because IVF procedures are quicker and do not require invasive surgery.

But because IVF only treats female...