Test Tube Babies

The history of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is the subject of this fascinating PBS-aired documentary from the American Experience series. IVF experimentation dates back to 1944, when the first human egg was fertilized in a laboratory. Tagged by the popular press with the unfortunate sci-fi moniker “test tube baby,” the announcement immediately drew fire from self-appointed morals advocates, thus dooming it from becoming a standard medical procedure for decades. But the real problem, from a scientific standpoint, lay in keeping the fertilized eggs alive long enough to inject back into the uterus. Once that puzzle was solved, there was still the ethical debate to overcome, and the controversial 1973 case of Florida couple John and Doris Del Zio's attempts to conceive in vitro with the help of Dr. Landrum Shettles of New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital brought the science back into public debate (and the procedure was stopped with litigation). The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England in 1978, while America's first, Elizabeth Carr, arrived in 1981; today, there are an estimated two million such babies. Narrated by Blair Brown, filmmakers Chana Gazit and Hilary Klotz Steinman's Test Tube Babies combines rare news footage with compelling interviews of physicians, ethicists, and would-be parents as it tells a fascinating, complex story of science, politics, and morality that seems very relevant today. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)