In-vitro fertilization has given countless couples, rendered infertile by cancer, illness or nature, the chance to become biological parents. But as my colleague Denise Grady writes, many of them remain torn over the fate of frozen embryos that they no longer need.
At least 400,000 embryos are frozen at clinics around the country, with more being added every day, and many people who are done having children are finding it harder than they had ever expected to decide the fate of those embryos.
A new survey of 1,020 fertility patients at nine clinics reveals more than a little discontent with the most common options offered by the clinics. The survey was published Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Among patients who wanted no more children, 53 percent did not want to donate their embryos to other couples, mostly because they did not want someone else bringing up their children, or did not want their own children to worry about encountering an unknown sibling someday.
Forty-three percent did not want the embryos discarded. About 66 percent said they would be likely to donate the embryos for research, but that option was available at only four of the nine clinics in the survey. Twenty percent said they were likely to keep the embryos frozen forever.
Embryos can remain viable for a decade or more if they are frozen properly but not all of them survive when they are thawed.
Smaller numbers of patients wished for solutions that typically are not offered. Among them were holding a small ceremony during the thawing and disposal of the embryos, or having them placed in the woman’s body at a time in her cycle when she would probably not become pregnant, so that they would die naturally.
To read the full story, click here. And please join the discussion below. Have you considered or opted for in-vitro fertilization? What decision did you make about how to dispose of unneeded frozen embryos?
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From 1 to 25 of 35 Comments
If I were in this position I would opt to donate the unused embryos. It’s a shame that many facilities do not offer these services, because instead of leaving the embryo to get to the point where it could not be used at all the couples in question could donate it to research that could helps millions of people. Keeping the embryos forever, while understandable, seems selfish at the end of the day.
— LoreWhen does life begin Only God knows it seems.
— markNoteably there is a high rate of spontaneous aborted conceptions. Noteably there is a wonderful difference between the wonders of life that enter an infant at first breath and a spiritless stillborn. There is a huge diffference between a corpse and a dieing person who still breathes and perfuses their tissues. There is a spirit (soul?) which is easliy identifieable in living beings.
I think only god knows when life begins.
It has been hard for me to observe the soul/spirit in an 8 celled embryo or a stillborn or a corpse.
For all those who are certain that conception marks the soul’s beginning (something I was once taught and held dear) there is tremendous inconsistency in focusing only on aborted established pregnancies. God help us, we all need less hubris and more humility.
Maybe each couple should be allowed to privately deal with these embryos as their conscience allows.
Mark , M.D. Wi.
“having them placed in the woman’s body at a time in her cycle when she would probably not become pregnant, so that they would die naturally. ”
— KBI find this concept so strange. How can the embryos “die naturally” if they have been created unnaturally? Also why would you want to be so personally involved in their destruction if you believed they were alive? If you think it is a baby, isn’t putting it an inhospitable uterus the same as putting it on a mountian top to die of exposure? I do like the idea of a small ceremony for the disposal, if the couple wants it. Personally, if I were in that position I would donate the unused embryos for scientific research. But then I don’t think embryos are people anymore than eggs are.
I would like to urge couples to donate the embryos to other infertile couples. I would love to adopt your embryo! My partner and I are both, healthy, active, intelligent, well off doctors with a vacation home at a ski resort. I am sure we would give the child at least as good a life as you could and we certaining offer a better life than no life at all in cold storage. We have spent over $50,000 on infertility treatments and still long for a child. You can be sure that we would love this child like crazy. My eggs are too old and my partner has a genetic defect so we have been creating embryos with an egg donor and a sperm donor. Ridiculous really, when there are all those frozen embyos who could be living a full life. Please give your embryos a change at life and share!
— CariIt should be mandatory for couples to decide the fate of their leftover embryos before undergoing IVF.
— jackThis has become a hot topic within our organization, needless to say everyone has differing opinions. And those opinions are highly personal, sensitive, and our own.
Each of us comes from a different spiritual path, and depending upon that path is how we come our own understanding, our own thoughts and, our own feelings about what to do with left over embryos. Some individuals feel that each embryo is their potential child — I have heard frozen embryos referred to as “Souls on Ice” while others clearly do not feel that way. Regardless of how you feel it’s okay. There’s no right or wrong answer here.
An interesting phenomenon that I do see happening over and over again are recipient parents who begin the donor egg process, and feel like they would be most happy to donate any left over embryos to another couple once they have completed growing their families but find out after their children are born to them via egg donation that parting with those embryos is much harder, and often times they just can’t bring themselves to do it.
I believe it has to do with the fact they see what they have created, carried, and loved. The idea that they would be giving up potentially another baby like the one they have is overwhelming.
Nonetheless, this is a complicated issue, and needs to be treated with respect, and acceptance regardless of where you stand.
In my case we had two blasts left over. One was okay quality, and one was very poor quality. We had to make a decision, and we decided at that time to discard them. I’d just had my transfer and didn’t know if the process worked our not. I can tell you, had I’d already had my incredible child, I would have held on to those embryos regardless of quality and tried again. The emotional factor that plays into this is amazing.
There is no black and white answer.
— Marna GatlinI wish somebody had told me of this option when I was still fertile. Instead of badgering women to have kids when young, society better recognize the necessity for women to first establish themselves professionally and routinely offer them the option of freezing eggs and embryos.
I find the logic behind not wanting strangers bringing up your child flawed, to put it nicely. Why object to a couple of doctors raising your kid? You could make it a prerequisite that they expose the child to also art and culture before handing over the embryo.
— SusannaI didn’t know that having a vacation home qualifies one for being a good parent. Or having a good income. I thought the first 2 sentences said it best:
I would like to urge couples to donate the embryos to other infertile couples. I would love to adopt your embryo.
Anyway good luck in your endeavors.
— ItscoolerinPHXI think commentor #5 makes a good point. We’ve already seen cases where after the fact something goes wrong, and one party wants to keep them, and the other wants them destroyed. I believe in one case a man stated i his will that he wanted the embryos destroyed.
As to adopting them away, with the advent of DNA research, a record can be maintained showing the resulting child’s ancestry.
It’s amazing when you think of it. In little more than 100 years we’ve gone from “Orphan Trains” to orphan embryos.
— Joan in CaliforniaI concur and agree totally with Jack (#5). The fate of the embryos should be discussed and defined BEFORE they are created.
— Sam“having them placed in the woman’s body at a time in her cycle when she would probably not become pregnant, so that they would die naturally.”
I wonder if by woman they mean the woman whose body the eggs came from, in which case I don’t see why they could not do that if they wanted to - or if they mean some unknown woman who the center would have on hand for such purposes, in which case they’re being ridiculous.
FROM TPP– Surely they are talking about the body of the woman where the eggs originated right?
— JkCancer patients, and others, undergoing IVF and various forms of fertility treatment are awash with hope, fear, and anxiety. I am both a cancer patient and a writer on the subject of 20- and 30-something cancer.
I interviewed a 35 year-old cancer patient, the mother of toddler twins via a donor egg and separate surrogate. I asked how and when the patient would tell her twins that the surrogate, who is now like a family member, is not their biologic mom. The issue had not occurred to the cancer patient until I asked the question, because she had pushed from her mind the involvement of a donor egg.
The blinding desire to be a parent erases important, delicate, and ethical questions that must be answered, including how to discard of extra embryos. A counseling and education session, with a counselor independent of a clinic, should be mandatory and include discussion of and sign off on these kinds of issues.
Some may argue this is not fair; parents of naturally conceived children would never be required to have counseling. But, the fairness question is not about the parents, it is about the embryos and the children who are forgotten in the intense drama of the quest to conceive.
As a patient with no cure for my cancer, I of course want to urge others to go the route of donation for medical research.
http://everythingchangesbook.blogspot.com/
— Kairol RosenthalFYI to Jack (#5) and those who have also agreed with his point… there should be a requirement — and in fact there is, in my experience — for the fate of unused embryos to be discussed and decided on prior to undergoing IVF treatment. However, the problems arise when people decide after the fact that they are no longer comfortable with their choice or when the owners/parents can no longer be found
— Sheila#13. The problems you raised seem easily surmountable by having a signed contract in place before the start of IVF. Strict enforcement of such a contract would include automatic actions to be taken when the parents cannot be found, and clear limits on allowable contract changes after the IVF.
Sounds like many companies don’t want to deal with these issues upfront for fear of scaring away business. If they don’t clean up their acts soon, they’re asking for government regulation.
— jackMy husband and I did ivf and have twin lovely girls now. We froze 2 other embryos at the time. We paid $1000 a year to store them…. they’ve always been in the back of my mind -and I knew we had to resolve what to do with them. Seven years later we had them shipped to our new state to transfer into my uterus.
— meeskeitSadly, they didn’t take, although it was a mercy too, as my first pregnancy was a disaster (except for the wonderful outcome of our daughters). These two embryos were worth the risk though - we had created them, we loved them. I saw our 2 blasts under the microscope right before they were transferred into my uterus, and they were alive and moving. Little bubbly specks! I smiled when I saw them - I love(d) them!! To just let them evaporate into the air was not an option, and we did not want to donate them to anyone - they were our potential babies. Medical research too was not an option. For us, the ethical thing was let them have a chance - we loved them - they were always there, back in the frozen storage tank, and were the potential siblings of our two here on earth - 2 more like that would be even more amazing… Sounds crazy, but is true. That was September 2007. A couple of weeks later the pregnancy test was negative. We were sad, but we both feel total closure has been achieved. Had we not taken the plunge to do the transfer, we probably would have kept them in storage until we died. Then someone else would have to decide/or not… not a great outcome but that’s the truth.
Unfortunately “embryonic” stem cell research is a glaring misnomer that leads people to assume that embryos–who are defined by their budding yet complex organ systems–are being killed for the sake of saving other lives. The “embryos” as used in stem cell research are really only a mass of a few cells at a very early stage in development.
If hundreds of these cell masses are being created for couples, where only a handful may be used, why not use at least some of them to try to save the lives of people who would benefit from stem cell therapy? It is a travesty that so many of these “embryos” end up becoming inviable from lack of use, and that there is still legislation in place that prevents new stem cell lines from being created using them.
http://sospokesaroj.wordpress.com
— SarojFascinating study in human nature:
— HBThose who 1.benefited firsthand from the generosity of earlier infertile couples that donated embryos for research, 2.who understand firsthand the heartbreak associated with infertility, and 3. who believe in the sanctity of life and the possibility that it begins at conception, don’t appear to have it in them to 1. adopt out an unused embryo to another suffering couple, 2. to donate their embryos to further scientific understanding in, among other areas, infertility research, and 3. won’t even allow the unborn life, which does not belong to them, a modicum of dignity by allowing it to serve humanity in some way…..
My question is: What are the regulations on creating embryos in the first place. Are there any rules? One could argue that creating life to solve the first problem (infertility) has only led to another obstacle (the embryos left). I am concerned that this is a highly profitable field that would seem to naturally favor bending ethics to suit a desperate and money in hand couple/etc…
As painful as it is to be infertile- is it merely a human choice to conceive? By grabbing the reigns have we created collateral damage?
— Laura J.As with all policies about what to do with embryos, consider the unintended consequences. Limits on the number of embryos that can be implanted at any one time led to more storage. Loosening the rules about research on embryos led to more storage. This is a totally created issue.
Requiring couples to implant every embryo (or every qualified embryo if they are trying to eliminate a life threatening or fatal defect) would lead to fewer embryos being thoughlessly created and then discarded (in any way). I say thoughtlessly because while much thought goes into creation, it doesn’t go into the creation of the particular embryo that ends up being surplus. It’s all one-off thought not thought about the individulal living organism.
I think implanting and letting them fail is a very just option. People like me who don’t think embryos should be created so promiscuously (as in haphazard, casual determination of the number) are often accused of treating embryos as fully formed humans with rights. I don’t think that but I think if there is 1 right an embryo has it is to be implanted. No one can guarantee birth but a right to implantation sounds about right. No comparison to leaving a child exposed. An embryo has many chances out of ten of dying that way every single cycle..totally different to a baby dying of exposure.
I can’t imagine a ceremony. Do you have a white lacy ribbon on the rubbish bin? Do you read poetry while throwing it in with the other biological waste?
— JillyflowerI just wanted to applaud #15. What a responsible and humane approach. Unfortunately I know of couples who have 10-20 embryos frozen and I doubt they would ever risk having that many kids.
— JillyflowerAfter years of trying, I underwent IVF and had twin girls who are now almost 4. My ovaries were extremely productive and I have 10 embryos frozen at the fertilized egg stage and 10 frozen at the 8 cell stage. This was before the current better methods of freezing, so the chances of these embryos surviving the thaw and making it are low, but not zero.
Our fertility center requires us to decide their disposition (in case of our demise) every 6 months, when we get a bill. We have changed what we would do a couple of times. To say that you have to decide before you undergo IVF is absurd. At that time, you have no idea whether you we even produce one decent embryo, much less many. You have no idea whether you will become pregnant or go through 10 IVF cycles and still be unsuccessful. You cannot know what will be the fate of your children, if born. You have no idea whether you will implant those frozen embryos or not.
I was on bedrest for 18 weeks with a 7mm cervix, funnelling and contaxctions (for those unfamiliar, my girls were not supposed to make it at all). So maybe I would have gone through it all again, who knew. What if a parent from IVF loses a child to leukemia? You simply cannot predict the future. How do you decide when you no longer need the embryos?
Then what to do with them?
We would donate them to stem cell research, but our clinic says they won’t take embryos formed from donor sperm. We feel very weird about giving them away to another couple, and knowing that there could be full siblings out there somewhere and we would not know them. Maybe Cari and her partner would be great parents– at least they read the NYT. We are 2 doctors, too. No ski condo though.
It is a major ethical dilemma. We still don’t know what we are going to do. But we pay our bill every 6 months and have the conversation all over again.
— KateNo one has successfully proven that life begins at any specific point after conception. Since the stakes are so high we must act with the greatest amount of caution. If you MIGHT be killing someone, but aren’t certain, then don’t take that chance.
As a father of triplets adopted as embryos, I can tell you the results of my own embryo research: lots of dirty diapers, crying babies, exhausted parents, and more love and joy than I ever knew existed. Who knows, maybe one of them will grow up to find a cure for cancer.
My wife and I will be forever grateful to the couple who lovingly chose adoption for their remaining embryos instead of allowing them to be destroyed.
— a former embryoHas anyone done a statistical analysis of the probability of incestuous relationships happening because of donated egg? Is this a real risk, or the stuff of science fiction? I have no idea, but the world of fiction (including a few operas) is full of such stories; they didn’t need IVF to come up with the idea. If anybody knows the answer to this question, please post it.
Thanks,
— Simon EdelsonSimon
I think any of us lucky enough to have children would be hard pressed to compare our pre-child thoughts and attitudes to those held after birhting and raising children. I think a decision made prior to IVF about the fate of your embryos would in many cases not remain the same post baby.
I am pro stem cell research and thought initially that donating my embryos would be my choice. I had to make a decision after the birth of my son (my third child) rather than continue to pay monthly storage fees forever. Donation for reasearch was an option at my center, yet at the time there didn’t seem to be any best choice.
If an unborn child in the womb is a potential life it was like the embryos were potential potential lives. I didn’t expect it to be that hard. Just one more gut wrenching experience for infertile couples to bear.
Dyanne
— DyanneThe first question raised by this article is in regard to why couples are having difficulty deciding what to do with the embryos. My first suspicion is that this has to do with people’s perception of when life begins, and the moral implications of those perceptions.
If research were to validate my suspicion, I have several reactions. The first is that we often fail to view science in relationship to other problems. So we can extend life via medical treatments, but does it also maintain a quality of life that is worth living? If so let’s use them; if not let life follow its natural course which inevitably results life ending, and for the religious being called back to their Creator. Because we view science in a short term, isolated vacuum we do not often apply it well. Which is why we are having this discussion in the first place. The solution to this is to increase funding for long term studies, and studies that analyze the implications of scientific applications.
From here my reactions the summation of my reactions fall into the category of: why on earth are we doing IVF for infertile couples? From an emotional standpoint it is absolutely taxing roller coaster for infertile individuals and couples to put themselves through. From an economic standpoint IVF does not seem to optimize the cash resources. The number of successful outcomes(ie getting a child)/ per procedure is relatively low, and the cost high especially if adoption is an alternative route to getting a child. IVF procedures cost much more than the storage of 2 embryos at $1000/year for 7 years (see #15). Even using those numbers a child could be adopted for that cost with a higher rate of actually getting a child, and a much lower rate of getting unexpected children.
From a moral and/or religious perspective it also seems like a poor choice to pursue IVF. Children in the US and all over the world, who are already living beings, are orphans, abused and need to be placed into a loving family, or do not have adequate food. Having adoption pursued in place of IVF would begin to address the need of already living, breathing, soul-filled people; reduce the need for social/ government programs to support these children (also an economic benefit); and eliminate the problem families are facing in deciding how to “dispose” of extra embryos created through IVF. From a strictly religious perspective, at least three major world religions recognize the teachings of the Torrah/ Old Testament portion of scripture. This scripture teaches a pre-cradle to grave pro-life stance…not just a pre-cradle pro-life position. It places value on life giving fluids like milk, blood, water, and reproductive fluids; teaches against war; and gives laws which indicate that we are to care for those around us (foreigners, sick, poor, hungary, widowed, orphaned). It seems like we, as a people, aught to perfect taking care of these priorities prior to artificially and scientifically creating additional life. Science is valuable and very beneficial; however, we often fail to look at science in the full context over the long term. For example, how many of our drug and chemical studies are short term (a year or so), and don’t study the long term (several years), bio-cumulative effects of things in our environment prior to releasing a product for sale. On a closing note, for the devout among us a particular passage speaks into this situation. While it occurs in the prophetic teachings in Isaiah 54 it has practical implications calling for barren women to open their home to other children:
‘Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child: burst into song , shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman…Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back:”
— BJ