Here's Why IVF Is Becoming <em> Less </em> Likely To Result In Multiple Births

In science, the astounding regularly becomes the commonplace, and such is the case with reproductive technology. IVF, once a near miraculous way for infertile couples to conceive children, was used 165,000 times in 2012, the largest number of procedures in history.

And as the unbelievable becomes run-of-the-mill, it’s refined and adapted. Where it once was considered necessary to transfer multiple embryos to the womb, more recent practice is to return as few as possible, reducing the chance of multiples and therefore the risk to mother and child.

The chart below illustrates how action leads to reaction, and how the spike in multiple births that has become to seem a little like the norm in recent years, may soon be a memory of an moment in reproductive time.