Today in History: World’s first test-tube baby is born
The Brown family made history 40 years ago today, by giving birth to the world's first 'test-tube' baby.
In 1978, the world’s first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilisation (IVF) was born at the Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to parents Lesley and Peter Brown.
Before giving birth to Louise in 1978, Lesley Brown had suffered through nine years of unsuccessful attempts at having a child due to infertility caused by blocked Fallopian tubes. In November 1977, she began the then-experimental IVF procedure.
A mature egg was removed from one of her ovaries and combined in a Petri dish with her husband’s sperm to form an embryo. The embryo was then implanted into her uterus a few days later.
Her IVF doctors, British gynaecologist, Patrick Steptoe, and scientist, Robert Edwards, had begun their pioneering collaboration a decade earlier. Once the media learned of the pregnancy, the Browns faced intense public scrutiny. Louise’s birth made headlines around the world and raised various legal and ethical questions.
The Browns ended up having a second daughter, Natalie, several years later, also through IVF. In May 1999, Natalie became the first IVF baby to give birth to a child of her own. The child’s conception was natural, easing some concerns that female IVF babies would be unable to become pregnant naturally. In December 2006, Louise Brown, the original “test-tube baby,” gave birth to a boy, Cameron John Mullinder, who was also conceived naturally.
Watch the birth of the world’s first test tube baby right here (Warning: Content may be distressing to some viewers):
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