Bristol, U.K.
Louise Brown, the world’s first “test-tube” baby, gave birth to her first child last month. Born in 1978, Brown was conceived through in vitro fertilization, in which sperm and egg are joined in a lab and the resulting embryo is implanted in the mother’s womb. The procedure was highly controversial at the time, although it is now routine. In the U.S. in 2004, the most recent year for which statistics are available, nearly 50,000 babies were born as a result of IVF. Brown’s child, a 6-pound boy, was conceived the old-fashioned way.
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