Assisted reproductive technology is big business—about four-billion dollars a year. A desperate, childless couple can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars using things like in-vitro fertilization. But does it work? Apparently not, according to the twenty-ten issue of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Report. They analyzed the nation’s fertility clinics, and their findings will surprise you. Of the attempts to use assisted technology to result in a live birth, it failed sixty-eight-percent of the time. That’s an enormous price tag for a more than two-thirds failure rate. I wonder if fertility clinics inform anxious couples of this bleak reality. You can’t put a price on children, but perhaps couples should consider adoption as a more viable alternative. They can give a loving home to a child who needs one.
Life Issues Institute welcomes comments relevant to columns that are civil, concise, and respectful of other contributors. We do not publish comments with links to other websites or other online material.