Risky Business?

Even if these new studies are borne out by later research--already under way in infertility programs in Australia and the U.S.--the risks to kids conceived by assisted reproduction remain reassuringly small. And even if the danger is twice what doctors previously believed, 91% of ART babies would still be born perfectly healthy. Says Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, director of New York Presbyterian Hospital's infertility program: "If you ask a couple if they would rather not have a child at all or try to have a child that over 90% of the time will be normal, I think they will choose to have the child."

No doubt about it, agrees Pamela Madsen, executive director of the nonprofit American Infertility Association: "Infertile people want the joy of a biological child. If you tell us we have to be careful--in fact, if you tell us we have to stand on our head for nine months--we'll do it."