Louise Brown

Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman noted as the first human born following conception by in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th century".

Life Brown's parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive naturally for nine years but Lesley faced complications from blocked fallopian tubes. On 10 November 1977, Lesley underwent the procedure that later became known as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), developed by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, and Jean Purdy. Although the media would refer to Brown as a "test tube baby", her conception actually took place in a Petri dish. Purdy was the first to see Brown's embryonic cells dividing.

Louise Joy Brown was born on 25 July 1978 at Oldham's General Hospital, via a planned caesarean section performed by John Webster. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces (2.608 kg) at birth. She has since had another child. Brown's father died in 2006 at the age of 64, while her mother died in 2012 due to complications from a gallbladder infection, also at the age of 64.

Recognition Brown's birth has been lauded as one of the "most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th century".

Edwards was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work.

In 2019, Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose Lesley Brown for 1978.

In 2022, a plaque was installed on Royal Oldham Hospital to record the importance of Purdy and Sister Muriel Harris to the work.

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, prompting questions of informed consent.

In 1978, when asked for his reaction to Brown's birth, Cardinal Albino Luciani (who was then the Patriarch of Venice and later became Pope John Paul I) expressed concerns about the possibility that artificial insemination could lead to women being used as "baby factories" but also noted that the Browns simply wanted to have a baby and refused to condemn them.

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