What are some of the health risks of in vitro fertilization?
In vitro fertilization is inherently unnatural. It is not natural to have the ovary produce many eggs, and it is not natural to have those eggs be fertilised in the laboratory and for the embryos to be put back. We are naturally concerned, both about whether there are going to be side effects to the women that are taking the fertility medications, as well as potentially to the babies that are born as a result of the fertility technologies. Lots of research has been done into this area. So far, we are very fortunate to be able to say that the risks to the health of the women seem to be minimal, if any. There of course is a risk to any kind of surgical procedure, and poking someone's body with a needle always risks the introduction of infection, or potentially the cause of some bleeding on the side of the needle poke. Complications are relatively rare. So far, there does not appear to be any permanent damage with the use of the fertility medications; there was a series of publications that tried to tie the fertility drugs in with the incidence of ovarian cancer, but those have essentially been disproved by subsequent studies, so that appears not to be a problem. So far, so good. As far as the babies are concerned, there appears to be an association between the use of fertility treatment and certain kinds of abnormalities or certain kinds of developmental abnormalities, but it's not clear whether it's the fertility treatment or the infertility itself, and it's also not clear as to whether this is a serious problem or a minor problem because the babies that are born from infertility are much more likely to be scrutinised than babies that are born after natural conception. The jury's out still on whether we are or are not going to have problems, or an increased risk of problems, in babies born after fertility treatment, but as far as safety to the women that are taking fertility medications and going through the egg retrievals, so far, we cannot identify any specific problems. That's the good news.
