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Medicine and Disease - When Was The First Test-Tube Baby Born?
When was the first test-tube baby born?
Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born on July 25, 1978, in Bristol, England. Four years later, Elizabeth Carr became America's first test-tube baby. Their births were made possible by in vitro fertilization (IVF), which involves retrieving an egg from the mother and sperm from the father. The egg and sperm are combined in a petri dish (a small covered dish made of glass or plastic) or test tube for fertilization. Then the fertilized egg is implanted into the mother's uterus and grows there until the baby is ready to be born. This process gave many people who were unable to conceive naturally a chance to have children, and many successful births resulted. Yet the rate of fertilization was often low, so researchers developed new and controversial ways to complete fertilization. As Louise Brown and her parents celebrated her twentieth birthday in 1998, news stories...
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