Editing Selective reduction (section)

==History==
Selective reduction was developed in the mid-1980s, as people in the field of [[assisted reproductive technology]] (ART) became aware of the risks that multiple pregnancies carried for the mother and for the fetuses.<ref name=WaPO/><ref name=NYT/>  The procedure was somewhat controversial from the beginning and drew some attention from anti-abortion activists.<ref name=NYT/> 

A set of ethical guidelines was developed in collaboration with a bioethicist from the [[National Institute for Health]] and was published in 1988; it justified reducing pregnancies with more than three fetuses to two or three.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=MI |last2=Fletcher |first2=JC |last3=Zador |first3=IE |last4=Newton |first4=BW |last5=Quigg |first5=MH |last6=Struyk |first6=CD |title=Selective first-trimester termination in octuplet and quadruplet pregnancies: clinical and ethical issues. |journal=Obstetrics and Gynecology |date=March 1988 |volume=71 |issue=3 Pt 1 |pages=289–96 |pmid=3347412 |url=https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Abstract/1988/03000/Selective_First_Trimester_Termination_in_Octuplet.1.aspx}} {{open access}}</ref>

Over time, more and more women in the developed world sought to become pregnant when they were older, having the first child when they were over forty years old. At the same time, the number of obstetrician-gynecologists with the required expertise increased and their role in family planning evolved. These trends led to more women asking for reduction to one fetus. These requests increasingly came from women pregnant with twins due to advances in the field of ART which made massively multiple pregnancies rarer. Selective reduction of twins was very controversial at first but has gradually become more accepted. One of the authors of the 1988 guidelines updated his stance and expressed a desire for the procedure to become more available in 2014. [[Sex-selective abortion|Sex-selective reduction]] is widely considered to be unethical in making decisions about which fetus to keep.<ref name=ACOG2017/><ref name=Evans2014/><ref name=NYT/>