Does fertility treatment cause birth defects?
It is important to recognize that the rate of birth defects in humans in the general population is about 3% of all births for major malformations and 6% if minor defects are included. Fortunately, 20-plus years following Louise Brown’s birth (the first IVF baby), we now have ample data that children conceived through IVF have no increase in these rates of birth defects. Further follow-up on older children indicates that IVF children have done as well or better than their peers in academic achievement (probably a social bias) and have no higher rates of behavioral or psychological difficulties.
