Medicine: Trying To Fool the Infertile

Is in-vitro fertilization being oversold?

It was only eleven years ago that Louise Brown became the first baby to start life outside a mother's womb. Since then, the business of in-vitro fertilization -- conception in a test tube -- has grown even faster than Louise has. Some 200 IVF clinics have sprung up in the U.S., and they have been responsible for more than 5,000 births. The surging demand stems from the high incidence of infertility: about 1 married couple in 12 has not been able to conceive a child despite a year of trying. IVF dangles one last shred of hope before some of these...

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