Doctors, scientists and infertility activists worry that anti-abortion legislation could devastate fertility research and treatment in the U.S. The day Lesley and John Brown first became parents, they traveled to the hospital under cover of darkness to avoid tipping off the media. They didn’t want anyone to know they were about to welcome a baby conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The press eventually found out and dubbed little Louise Brown the world’s first “test tube baby.” An estimated 5 million babies worldwide have since been born through IVF, but now, fertility science faces fresh challenges and a fight for the future. It’s a battle that is pitting some doctors, scientists and infertility advocates, worried about a growing pushback against fertility science, against critics who appear to have growing political support, including from the Trump administration. Sure, fertility science has encountered pushback from the very start. Brown’s birth in 1978 upset religious groups that didn’t like the idea of science involved in procreation. But the latest threats could directly impact the advancement of fertility treatment. | 