Policy

World's First Test Tube Baby Turns 35

More than 5 million woman have conceived using IVF

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Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born 35 years ago today, revolutionizing the field of reproductive medicine and giving infertile women hope that they could become mothers.

Now, the procedure is so common that more than 5 million around the world have conceived babies through in vitro fertilization or IVF.

Brown was born at Oldham General Hospital in Britain on July 25, 1978. Her mother had blocked fallopian tubes, still one of the most frequent causes of infertility in women. But Brown herself, who has a 6-year-old son, never required IVF and just revealed she is expecting a second child.