Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology / Chairman: Dame Mary Warnock, DBE.

  • Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology.
Date:
1984
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology / Chairman: Dame Mary Warnock, DBE. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    remainder were undertaken either because of a combination of semen problems and diseased fallopian tubes or because of semen problems alone. 5.13 In 1983 there were 967 laparoscopies performed for 579 women. In 934 of these laparoscopies one or more eggs was recovered, and in 762 one or more eggs was fertilised. In all these cases one or more embryos was transferred to the woman and in 192 a pregnancy occurred which ended in birth or a clinically recognisable miscarriage.’ 5.14 By May 1984 the clinic knew of 439 pregnancies, of which 131 were ongoing. 215 children had been born since it had opened, including 18 sets of twins and one set of triplets. Among these infants there had been no major congenital malformations. 5.15 It seems to us that the technique has now passed the research stage and can be regarded as an established form of treatment for infertility. * This total does not include “‘biochemical pregnancies” where early tests following embryo transfer suggest that implantation might have occurred, but there is no subse- quent clinical evidence of pregnancy.