◆Tateiwa, Shinya(立岩 真也) 2016 On Private Property, English Version, Kyoto Books chap.3 n.1
◆立岩 真也 『私的所有論』第3章注1(p.89)より
"In vitro fertilization (IVF)" is a process in which a woman's egg is inseminated outside of her body. This inseminated egg (embryo) is then implanted in a womb ("embryo transfer (ET)"). The term "test-tube baby" is used to described children born through this process of IVF-ET. Since chances of a successful pregnancy are increased by having many eggs transferred to the womb at once, ovulation inducing drugs are often used to gather extra eggs that are then simultaneously inseminated and transferred to the same womb (this has resulted in an increased rate of multiple-pregnancy (twins, triplets, and so on) that has in turn led to the use of techniques to reduce the number of embryos, a process that has been seen as posing ethical problems of its own). Technology that allows for eggs to be frozen and then later thawed and transferred to a womb during the easiest period for the woman in question to become pregnant is already being used, as is microscope insemination technology that allows for sperm to be planted directly in an egg. There are also other techniques, such as the "GIFT" method in which sperm and egg are brought together outside of the woman's body but conception occurs after they have been transferred to her womb. The first child conceived through in vitro fertilization was born in Britain in 1978 (Edwards and Steptoe [1980]).
The first child conceived through in vitro fertilization in Japan was born in 1983 at the Touhoku University department of gynecology (the trend within academic institutions/hospitals towards the pursuit of carrying out this procedure in Japan is examined in Oota [1983], prevailing attitudes before and after this procedure was first carried out are described in Fukumoto [1989], and the techniques themselves, along with additional comments and arguments including those made by university ethics committees, are introduced in Sato [1985]). In 1992 a total of roughly 19,000 IVF procedures were carried out in Japan, resulting in the birth of approximately 2,000 children, with a total of 6,000 children having been born through the use of this technique since it was first implemented (Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology [1994]), and roughly 14,000 children are estimated to have been born worldwide through IVF in 1991 (Tsuge [1995a:7]). (For more on this topic see also various entries in "Jiten /Kazoku," Hikaku Kazokushi Gakkai ed. [1996]. I was in charge of the entries for "gene", "reproductive revolution", "in vitro fertilization" and "surrogate reproduction"). While reproductive technology also includes technology used to avoid pregnancy/childbirth and the kind of in utero testing examined in Chapter 9, I do not address these sorts of techniques in this chapter. This book's index also does not include topics like in utero testing under the heading of reproductive technology."