Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) are used to help women become pregnant when they are unable to conceive through normal intercourse or to carry an infant to term. Techniques may include in vitro fertilization (IVF), sperm or egg donation, surrogacy, or other methods.

This list of selected resources focuses on psychological and social impacts of ART on children conceived via ART and on their families. The list also provides resources related to ethical and legal issues associated with ART. For the most part, resources on this list are available electronically at no charge.

Table of Contents

Web Sites
Additional Resources

Web Sites

American Fertility Association (AFA) (U.S.)
AFA is geared toward men and women confronting infertility issues and the physicians and therapists who serve them. The Web site’s section on adoption and third-party options covers topics such as embryo donation, the frozen embryo dilemma, and talking with children about ovum donation and their IVF origins. Online message boards explore support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families, IVF outcomes, and third-party reproduction.

American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) (U.S.)
This society’s online materials include ART consumer-information booklets, headlines in reproductive medicine, ethics committee reports, practice guidelines, and other reference and educational material. ASRM’s Mental Health Professional Group has developed resources addressing the psychological and emotional components of ART, including book reviews and a publication titled Annotated Bibliography for Children and Parents of Third Party Reproduction

American Surrogacy Center (U.S.)
This consumer-oriented site provides 15 different online discussion forums, including one for parents of children born via ART.

ART: Talking to Children About Assisted Reproductive Technology (U.S.)
This site was developed by the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media as an educational tool for parents who have used ART and their children. The site includes audio clips and written transcripts from parents and children and advice on how to talk to children and adolescents about ART, secrecy vs. openness, and potential pitfalls. Also included are an ART timeline, links to related organizations, and recommended reading.

Donor Conception Network (U.K.)
This network provides information and support to help parents openly discuss their children’s origins, whether through donor insemination or following treatment with donated gametes. The site includes annotated lists of books and links to resources (some materials can be downloaded free of charge, including the “Telling and Talking” booklet series . Members can also join discussion forums.

Donor Conception Support Group (Australia)
Founded in 1993, this voluntary organization is made up of people who are considering or using donor sperm, eggs or embryos, those who already have children conceived on donor programs, adult donor offspring, and donors. The Web site includes an annotated list of books, videotapes, and other materials; product reviews; information sheets for potential gamete donors; information for gamete offspring; and updates on legislation in Australia related to ART.

Donor Sibling Registry (DSR) (U.S. and International)
DSR assists people conceived as a result of sperm, egg, or embryo donation who seek mutually desired contact with others with whom they share genetic ties. The Web site provides links to clinics in the United States and several other countries and other tools to help users locate relatives. News, articles, and information on research studies are also posted on this site.

Family Equality Counsel (U.S.)
Formerly known as Family Pride, this national organization advocates for family equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, guardians, and allies. Resources include Real Families, Real Facts: Research Symposium on LBGT-Headed Families (findings from a multidisciplinary symposium that focused on the latest research about LGBT parents and their children).

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (U.K.)
This organization is the United Kingdom’s independent regulator overseeing safe and appropriate practice in fertility treatment and embryo research. The Web site provides online information (including fact sheets and leaflets) for consumers, donors and donor-conceived people and their families, clinic staff, and the media.

InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination (INCIID) (U.S.)
This nonprofit organization helps individuals and couples explore their family-building options, including the use of ART. INCIID also hosts discussion forums and online communities focusing on topics such as parenting after the use of donor gametes and third-party reproduction. In addition, the Web site provides an annual ART resource directory and handbook (featuring articles by infertility specialists) and a searchable database of professional services for consumers.

National Conference of State Legislatures Genetic Technologies Project: Assisted Reproduction (U.S.)
This project provides links to publications, Web sites, and other resources on public policy and issues related to ART to assist legislators, their staff, and others in understanding the technology and its potential ethical, legal, and social consequences.

National Reference Center for BioEthics Literature (U.S.)
This center comprises a reference library for the public and an in-depth research resource for scholars from the United States and abroad. Online databases provide bibliographic access to journals, newspapers, books, bills, laws, court decisions, reports, and audiovisuals as well as information on the resources and programs of over 1,000 organizations focusing primarily on ethics in medicine and scientific research. Coverage is international in scope and includes groups from over 80 different countries. The center receives funding from the National Library of Medicine.

Additional Resources

Journal articles

A rapidly expanding body of journal literature has focused on the mental- and emotional-health aspects of ART. This information can be researched in PubMed, the online database of the National Library of Medicine.

Search tips: Enter the phrase “assisted reproductive techniques” in the search box. Click on the Limits tab, and choose the box for Humans and the box for English (or other desired language). Then click the Go button. Or use more specific topics such as “artificial insemination” or “in vitro fertilization.”

To narrow your search, add terms such as “child development,” family, “social adjustment,” “parent child relations,” personality, or psychology. Use quotation marks around phrases so the terms will be found together; quotation marks are not needed for single words.  Also limit the search by date (using the Limits tab) to retrieve only more recent items.

Online newsletters and journals

BioEdge (Australia)
This weekly online newsletter about bioethics is produced by Australasian Bioethics Information, an independent clearinghouse for information about cutting-edge bioethical issues. Subscriptions are free, and the site provides full access to BioEdge archives. Many articles explore ethical issues related to IVF.

Bionews (U.K.)
This free-of-charge assisted-reproduction and human genetics news service is a product of the Progress Educational Trust. It includes daily news published online or delivered weekly via E-mail, commentaries (invited opinion pieces on ethical, social, and legal issues), and updates, book and event recommendations, overviews, and background information on news topics.

New York Times (U.S.)
This newspaper includes feature articles on the personal aspect of ART. Good search terms include “egg donor,” “sperm donor,” and “in vitro fertilization.”

Books and reports

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (U.S.). Forthcoming. Assisted Reproductive Technology, Effectiveness, and Efficiency. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This evidence report covers risks and benefits associated with ovulatory drug-induced pregnancies and pregnancies achieved through IVF, differences among patient populations (including racial and ethnic groups and different age groups), and maternal and infant outcomes.

Arons J. 2007. Future Choices: Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Law. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. This report provides a basic overview of ART and discusses three primary areas in which legislators and courts have spoken to some degree (health insurance coverage, embryo disposition, and parentage determinations), including the policy implications of their decisions.

Clarke-Stewart A, Dunn J, eds. 2006. Families Count: Effects on Child and Adolescent Development. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. A chapter of this book titled “New Family Forms,” by Susan Bolombok (pp. 273-298) examines various issues concerning child development and parenting within new family forms such as single mothers, surrogate mothers, and lesbian-mother families.

Covington SN, Burns LH, eds. 2006. Infertility Counseling: A Comprehensive Handbook for Clinicians. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. This handbook explores medical counseling issues, third-party reproduction, alternative family building, post-infertility counseling issues, and ART’s impact on children.

Mundy L. 2007. Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World. New York, NY, Knopf. This book  discusses the personal impacts on people using ART to conceive and the moral, ethical, and pragmatic decisions they make, as well as social consequences for family structure, schools, ideas of genetic relatedness, and the nation as a whole.

President’s Council on Bioethics (U.S.). 2004. Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies. Washington, DC: President’s Council on Bioethics (U.S.). This report includes discussion of the well-being of the children conceived via ART and of the mothers who give birth to them. Additional background papers and recommendations for oversight of IVF and ART are available at http://www.bioethics.gov/background/.

For more information on this topic, use the MCH Library Advanced Search using the term Reproductive technologies.

Authors: Beth DeFrancis Sun, Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library
January 2008