Louise Brown
| Louise Joy Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | Louise Joy Brown 25 July 1978 Oldham, UK |
| Known for | First in-vitro baby |
| Weight | 5 lb 12 oz (2.608 kg) at birth |
| Spouse | Wesley Mullinder (2004–present) |
| Children | Cameron (b. 20 December 2006) |
Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978, in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK) is the first person to be conceived by in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
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[edit] Birth
Louise Brown was born to Lesley and John Brown, who had been trying to conceive for nine years, but without success because of blocked fallopian tubes.[1] On 10 November 1977, Lesley Brown underwent a procedure, later to become known as IVF, developed by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards. Edwards was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work.[2]
Brown was born 25 July 1978 at 11:47 p.m. at Oldham General Hospital, Oldham, via planned Caesarean section delivered by registrar John Webster.[3] She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces (2.608 kg) at birth.[1]
Although the media referred to her as a "test tube baby",[4] her conception actually took place in a petri dish.
Her younger sister, Natalie Brown, was also conceived through IVF four years later, and became the world's fortieth IVF baby, and the first one to give birth herself—naturally—in 1999.[1]
[edit] Ethical and religious issues
Although the Browns knew the procedure was experimental, the doctors did not tell them that no case had yet resulted in a baby. This has raised questions of informed consent.[5]
Shortly before the death of Pope Paul VI, when asked for his reaction to Brown's birth, the patriarch of Venice, Albino Cardinal Luciani (later Pope John Paul I), expressed concerns about the possibility that artificial insemination could lead to women being used as "baby factories", but also refused to condemn the parents of the child (cf moral theology of John Paul I).[6]
[edit] Later life
Brown married nightclub doorman Wesley Mullinder in 2004, with Dr. Edwards attending their wedding.[1] Their son Cameron, conceived naturally,[4] was born on 20 December 2006.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "World's first IVF baby marks 30th birthday", Agence France-Presse, 23 July 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
- ^ Wade, Nicholas (October 4, 2010). "Pioneer of in Vitro Fertilization Wins Nobel Prize". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/health/research/05nobel.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
- ^ Hutchinson, Martin (24 July 2003). "I helped deliver Louise". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3077913.stm.
- ^ a b Hall, Sarah (11 July 2006). "Louise Brown, first test tube baby, is pregnant". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1817639,00.html.
- ^ Robin Marantz Henig, Pandora's Baby, Houghton Mifflin, 2004, p 134
- ^ Prospettive nel Mondo, 1 August 1978; Luciani, Opera Omnia, vol. 8, pp. 571-72.
- ^ "Baby son joy for test-tube mother". BBC News. 14 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6260171.stm.
