
Assisted reproductive technology treatments, the most high-tech fertility treatments available today, all include surgically removing a woman's egg from her body. They include, but are not limited to: IVF, or in vitro fertilization, the procedure whereby the woman injects fertility drugs with the hope of producing multiple eggs, which are then extracted and placed with her partner's sperm in the lab, and the resultant embryos are deposited back in the uterus. There's GIFT, gamete intra-fallopian transfer, in which a woman takes fertility drugs, has the eggs extracted, then the eggs along with the sperm are returned to one of the woman's fallopian tubes. (This form of treatment is acceptable to the Catholic church because conception takes place inside the body, not outside.) Then there's ZIFT, or zygote intra-fallopian transfer, which is almost the same as GIFT, except that the eggs have been fertilized by the sperm in the lab and the embryos are placed in the fallopian tube via surgery. There's also intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, in which single sperm are isolated and injected directly into an egg. This is done as part of IVF if there are male-factor infertility problems. If a woman's eggs are found to be nonviable, then she can opt for IVF using donor eggs, which involves finding a donor (most are anonymous, found by the fertility clinic), supplying that donor with fertility drugs, extracting her eggs, and placing them with sperm in the lab. After three to five days, resultant embryos are transferred to the prepped uterus of the woman experiencing infertility. A less high-tech fertility treatment, which is not considered an ART procedure but is very common, is intrauterine insemination, or IUI, in which the woman takes fertility drugs—either in pill form or injections—then, when the eggs are mature, a shot that triggers ovulation is given, at which point her partner's sperm are deposited high in the uterus with a thin catheter. Another option is just taking fertility drugs, then the shot that triggers ovulation, and having intercourse.
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