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→Assisted reproduction processes
==Assisted reproduction processes==
Assisted reproduction refers to the use of different kinds of strategies or technologies to help people conceive and carry a child to term when they can't or would rather not do so through natural reproduction. ("Natural reproduction," of course, is a fancy way of saying ''sex''.) Assisted reproduction may be necessary when a person wants to have a child on their own, when the people involved in a family relationship are of the same sex, when the people in an opposite-sex relationship can't have a child on their own for some reason, or if there are more than two people who want to be the parents of a child, which might be the case for people involved in a polyamorous relationship. Problems involving sterility and infertility may be addressed through the use of sperm or eggs donated by someone else, while problems involving carrying a pregnancy to term may be addressed by having another woman carry the pregnancy as a surrogate mother.
Sometimes "assisted reproduction" refers to medications or medical procedures intended to help a woman ovulate and release an egg that can be fertilized by a man's sperm. Most of the time assisted reproduction refers to fertilization of eggs outside the body in a laboratory setting, called "in vitro fertilization." In cases like this, eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilized with a man's sperm in a petri dish. If the fertilization is successful, the fertilized egg — called a ''zygote'' — is surgically implanted in a woman's uterus, and it is expected that the zygote will develop into a fetus, be carried to term, and be delivered.