Assisted Reproduction: Emerging Technologies, Ethics, Regulation and Practice

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) generally involves the application of laboratory or clinical technology to gametes (human egg or sperm) and/or embryos for the purposes of reproduction to assist people to have children. ART often includes a woman taking fertility medication to increase the likelihood of falling pregnant and may include techniques such as artificial insemination (AI),¹ in vitro fertilisation (IVF),² gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT),3 zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT),⁴ and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).⁵ Donor sperm, eggs or embryos may be used in some circumstances. In addition, ART may in certain circumstances utilise increased understanding of human genetics in the application of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select particular embryos for implantation. More recently, emerging research and technology have led to children being born as a result of 'three person' IVF to avoid mitochondrial disease, and discussion that ART may involve a future in which genome editing may be possible.