From rabbit embryos to human life: the complex evolution of IVF

Health · Published 18 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: While we often associate in vitro fertilization with modern medicine, its roots lie in decades of animal experimentation. The journey from transferring rabbit embryos in 1890 to the first human birth in 1978 involved groundbreaking breakthroughs, intense ethical debates, and a series of scientific near-misses.

The foundations of IVF were laid long before human application. In 1890, Cambridge professor Walter Heape successfully performed the first mammal embryo transfer using rabbits. During the middle of the 1900s, scientists improved techniques: John Rock and Miriam Menkin collected more than 800 oocytes in 1948, while Min Chueh Chang demonstrated live rabbit births via in vitro fertilisation by 1959. These milestones proved that fertilization could occur outside the body and still result in healthy offspring.

The transition to human success required the collaboration of British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and medical researcher Robert Edwards. After working together since 1968, they achieved the world's first successful IVF birth with Louise Brown in July 1978. This followed earlier, less successful attempts, such as a 1973 report from a Monash University team and an ectopic pregnancy recorded by Steptoe, Edwards, and Jean Purdy in 1976. The technology has since expanded to include techniques like ICSI, where DNA is injected directly into an egg, and PGD, which analyzes embryos for genetic mutations like cystic fibrosis.

As the technology advanced, so did the controversy. The Roman Catholic Church issued a doctrinal statement in 1987 opposing IVF due to concerns regarding embryo destruction and the separation of procreation from the marital act. Beyond ethics, the procedure faces biological hurdles, such as aneuploidy—abnormal chromosome numbers—which is a primary cause of miscarriage. Modern refinements, including vitrification for freezing embryos and AI-based tools for embryo selection, continue to push the boundaries of reproductive medicine.

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