{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,25]],"date-time":"2025-09-25T00:21:15Z","timestamp":1758759675446,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,6]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This writing presents personal reflections on issues raised by the recent publication of texts concerning the developing story of infertility treatment since the delivery of Louise Brown in 1978. It is written by a woman whose own natural conception coincided with the commencement of Steptoe and Edwards\u2019s collaboration, and who herself received, as an adult, a treatment to which their work gave rise. It addresses itself to the as yet mostly anonymous and silent female subjects\u2014the self-styled \u2018Ovum Club\u2019\u2014without whose involvement in the original research programme in Oldham in 1969\u20131978 Louise would never have been born, to be followed by millions of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) babies worldwide. It ponders a few of the characteristics of the celebratory narratives of the development of IVF as have so far been told and draws attention to some of the paradoxes, inconsistencies, misunderstandings and confusions apparent in texts which have played a crucial role in shaping public awareness of this branch of medical science for 50 years. In conclusion, it points out that without hearing a range of voices of those women involved in the original experimental research who mostly lost more than they gained, a more compassionate historiography, and a balanced and comprehensive History of this branch of medicine will never be attained.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2019-011737","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,26]],"date-time":"2019-12-26T17:15:28Z","timestamp":1577380528000},"page":"180-183","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["<i>Ex ovo omnia?<\/i> A letter to members of <i>The Ovum Club<\/i> on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of IVF"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"46","member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.1","unstructured":"Ahuja Anjana , \u201cInterview. God is not in charge, we are,\u201d The Times, 2003, 6."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.2","unstructured":"Anonymous , \u201cFrom Watergate to the World Cup. The famous and the unknown who made it a decade to remember,\u201d Daily Mail, 1979, 20."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.3","unstructured":"Anonymous . \u201cFirst test tube baby mother Lesley Brown dies.\u201d, 2012a. http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-bristol-18524232. Accessed 7 Jun 2019."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.4","unstructured":"Anonymous . \u201cNumber of IVF babies passes 5 m worldwide with demand for techniques still rising.\u201d, 2012b. http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-2167509\/Number-IVF-babies-passes-5m-worldwide-demand-techniques-rising.html. Accessed 14 Jun 2019."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.5","unstructured":"Anonymous . \u201cDetox \u2026. With Simply Healing. Fertility Road Magazine.\u201d, 2014. https:\/\/www.simplyhealingcentre.com\/press\/. 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Bristol: Bristol Books, 2015."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/221632a0"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.11","unstructured":"Edwards Robert G , and Steptoe Patrick . A matter of life. The story of IVF\u2014a medical breakthrough. London: Hutchinson, 1980."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.12","unstructured":"Elder Kay , and Dale Brian . In-vitro fertilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rbms.2015.04.003","article-title":"The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969\u20131978. II. The treatment cycles and their outcomes","volume":"1","author":"Elder","year":"2015","journal-title":"Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rbmo.2013.03.023"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.15","unstructured":"Harris Anita . Future girl: young women in the 21st century. London: Routledge, 2005."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rbms.2015.04.002","article-title":"The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969\u20131978. IV. ethical aspects","volume":"1","author":"Johnson","year":"2015","journal-title":"Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rbms.2015.04.005","article-title":"The Oldham Notebooks: an analysis of the development of IVF 1969\u20131978. V. 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Oxford: Helicon Publishers, 1992."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.21","unstructured":"Leng F . \u201cAutobiography of the world\u2019s first \u2018test tube\u2019 baby Louise Brown launched at Bourn Hall in Cambridge.\u2019.\u201d, 2015. http:\/\/www.cambridge-news.co.uk\/Autobiography-world-8217-s-8216-test-tube-8217\/story-27478452-detail\/story.html. Accessed 20 Aug 2015."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rbms.2018.10.009","article-title":"Honouring 'Patient 38'\u2014a mother of all IVF mothers?","volume":"8","author":"Littleton","year":"2019","journal-title":"Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/0735-2751.00090"},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.24","unstructured":"Mortimer Maria , \u201cWhen a miracle doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d Daily Mail, 1978, 19."},{"key":"2025092412073606000_46.3.180.25","unstructured":"Parveen Nazia , and Stevens John . \u201cI've been refused IVF because my fianc\u00e9 is already a father, reveals heartbroken woman.\u201d, 2013. http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2483685\/Ive-refused-IVF-fiance-father-reveals-heartbroken-woman.html. 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