Embryo Adoption and Family Restoration

 

This guest post is written by Melissa Benvenuto, Regent Law 3L and current Family Law student:            

 

                 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, 

    before you were born I set you apart.”  Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

 

According to the CDC, approximately 10% (6.1 million) of women in the United States struggle with infertility. One prominent form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) that helps families in their pursuit of growing their family is in vitro fertilization (IVF). By this process, “Doctors treat the woman with a drug that causes the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Once mature, the eggs are removed from the woman. They are put in a dish in the lab along with the man's sperm for fertilization. After 3 to 5 days, healthy embryos are implanted in the woman's uterus.” 33% of families who use IVF get pregnant in their first cycle, while the chances increase in later cycles by 54-77% in their eighth cycle. As of 2014, IVF has resulted in over 1 million births.

 

While IVF has brought well over a million blessings into the world to loving families, there is another side of it that not many families know about as they begin the process. Couples who celebrate the birth of their child often face the reality of “leftover” embryos, or what some have called “maybe babies.” Matching the number of babies born as a result of IVF is that of embryos – almost 1 million embryos are frozen in storage. NPR interviewed families currently facing this dilemma of whether to destroy, donate, or to keep frozen the embryos. While some couples view “the embryos to be biologic tissue or a genetic or psychological ‘insurance policy,”’ there are those who “think of the embryos as living entities — ‘virtual children’ that have interests that needed to be considered and protected.” Bringing this latter view into perspective, Live Action shares that a family welcomed a baby boy who was frozen for 15 years. Baby Noah was adopted from an embryo adoption agency and was given a chance at life. Today, he is healthy and the family’s dream of having a child came true.

 

While there is a grim reality to IVF leaving life in limbo, not all hope is lost and there is still a way to advocate for that future child’s best interest. To do this, families like that of Baby Noah who struggle with infertility have an opportunity to adopt embryos and give life a chance.  Embryo adoption is a pathway toward family restoration.