The saying is that time heals all wounds.  In the area of  Assisted Reproduction, time has demonstrated that the expert predictions in the late 70's were way off base and thankfully the inaccurate statements made at that time have diminished.

In 1978, most insurance companies decided not to cover IVF because it was "too expensive or frivolous, and critics thought that would halt the practice altogether," Gregory Pence, professor of bioethics at University of Alabama-Birmingham's School of Medicine, writes in a Los Angeles Times.  "Early on, critics doubted that couples would pay for IVF, especially if their chances of creating a baby were low." However, the last 30 years have "proved the critics very wrong," Pence writes, adding, "Fortunately, couples enjoy the freedom to spend their money as they choose to buy reproductive help." Few states require insurance coverage of IVF, with costs running about $8,000 for each attempt, and new tools, such as using eggs of young women, have boosted success rates, especially for women over age 40.  According to 2005 CDC data, assisted reproduction helped to create more than 50,000 U.S. infants in that year alone, Pence writes (Pence, Los Angeles Times, 7/24).

Can you imagine, "frivolous"?  I can only imagine the cigar puffing misogynist that made that comment.