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)
