Is the premature birth rate falling or rising?
The National Institute of Health reports that the rate of premature and low-birth weight births has increased in recent years, contrary to expectations, and now exceeds 11 percent of all births in the United States. It had been hoped that better prenatal care — which more women than ever are seeking out — would cause that rate to lower. However the advent of aggressive new fertility drugs and treatments, such as in vitro fertilization, has led to skyrocketing rates of multiple births — a fifty percent rise in twins, and a four hundred percent rise in triplets and higher-order multiples. Because multiple pregnancies are at greater risk for prematurity and other complications, and because the women who employ those treatments tend to be older than the general child-bearing population, further increasing the risk of complications, higher rates of prematurity are the direct result of these new fertility treatments. Many countries place legal limits on the number of embryos that can be impl
