< Back to Previous Page Study Shows Babies Conceived By Assisted Reproduction Have a Higher Risk of Birth Defects According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infants conceived with Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) are two to four times more likely to be born with certain birth defects over infants conceived by natural means. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the definition, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) consists of all fertility treatments in which both the eggs and the sperm are handled.  ART procedures typically involve surgically removing the eggs from a woman’s ovaries and combining them with sperm in the laboratory.  After this process the, the eggs and sperm mixture is inserted into the woman’s body.  This can include in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection among others. The woman can be the mother or donor of the original eggs, a surrogate, or the mixture can be donated to another woman.  ART does not include reproductive treatments that require only sperm such in the case of intrauterine insemination or artificial insemination.  ART does not include treatments that involve medicines to stimulate egg production in which the eggs are not extracted from the woman. The study found that infants conceived with the help of ART that resulted in single births were more likely to be born with: Certain heart defects such as Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) or Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) (a hole in the heart) Cleft lip (with and without cleft palate) Certain types of gastrointestinal defects such as Esophageal Artesia (EA) or Oesophageal Artesia (OA) a variety of disorders that do not let the esophagus develop properly and Anorectal Artesia or an imperforate anus (a malformed rectum)