Embryo Donation and Adoption

 

This post is courtesy of Elizabeth Magee, Regent Law Family Law student: 

 

In 2022 in the United States, 53,665 children were adopted from foster care. There are countless factors that drive parents to adopt. Some parents choose adoption as the result of infertility or high risk pregnancies, while others choose to adopt simply as an opportunity to expand their family and provide a loving environment for a child in need of a family. When most people think of adoption, they think of infants and children currently in the foster care system. But did you know that there is another form of adoption?

Parents who undergo in vitro fertilization store their frozen embryos for the future, but once the family is complete, there is a question of what to do with those that remain. With the rise of in vitro fertilization, there is a surplus of roughly 1,500,000 unused embryos in the United States. Because Christians believe that life begins at conception, embryo adoption provides a second chance for these embryos to come to term. Though embryo adoption is not legally recognized as formal adoption in the United States, it provides an additional option for expanding families. 

The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) operates as an embryo adoption and donation program and strives to protect the lives of embryos. Through organizations like the NEDC, families are given the opportunity to experience the joy of parenthood, and embryos are given the chance at life. In this unique form of adoption, hope is not only preserved, but it's given a new beginning.