NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The celebration of the birth of a baby is why much of the world shuts down each Dec. 25.
But the birth of a baby is also celebrated on Dec. 28 in Norfolk. It was on that day in 1981 Elizabeth Carr became the first vitro fertilization (IVF) baby born in the United States.
Her conception occurred in a lab under the watchful eyes of the late Doctor Howard Jones at Eastern Virginia Medical Center.
Carr’s birth gave hope to couples struggling with infertility. But there were also waves of backlash, with calls for the General Assembly to strip funding from EVMS over the experimental procedure.
WAVY dug into our archives to pull years of coverage on Elizabeth Carr’s birth. View Brett Hall’s report in the video player on this page.
To see more videos from the WAVY archives, click here.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.
