Embryo adoption: what is it, is it possible to adopt an embryo after IVF

Modern medicine is capable of miracles. Even helping an infertile couple have a baby. There are several methods, they are well known to everyone: IVF, ICSI and everything related to reproductive technologies. Usually, during the IVF procedure, several eggs are fertilized, creating several embryos: in case it does not work out the first time. Or in case there is a high degree of risk of having a child with a genetic pathology.

“With the help of preimplantation genetic testing, families can select a healthy embryo for transfer to the uterine cavity,” said the Nova Clinic Center for Reproduction and Genetics.

But what if there are “extra” embryos left? Technologies make it possible to store them for as long as necessary in case a couple decides to give birth to another baby later – in adulthood, difficulties with conception may already begin. And if he does not dare? This problem has already been encountered in the United States, where, according to information Air force, about 600 thousand unclaimed embryos have accumulated. They are frozen, viable, but will they ever turn into real babies? Do not throw them away – many are sure that this is simply unethical. What if a person’s life really begins with conception?

Some of these embryos are still discarded. Some turn into teaching aids for future doctors and also die. And some are lucky and they end up in a family.

The fact is that the United States has created the possibility of “adoption” of frozen embryos, there are even agencies that select parents for “abandoned little souls frozen in time,” as they call them. And there are already many cases when couples became parents thanks to this method of fertility treatment. Babies born of the adoption of an embryo are affectionately referred to as snowflakes. Moreover, some of them have been waiting for their chance for life for decades – it is known about the successful birth of a child who was born 25 years after conception.

Western experts believe that the adoption of “snowflakes” is a good alternative to IVF. If only because it is much cheaper. Although psychologically for many, this is a serious question: after all, biologically, the child is still a stranger, even though you will honestly bear him for all 9 months.

In Russia, freezing of embryos is a procedure that has also been put on stream for a long time.

“The method of vitrification, that is, ultrafast freezing of eggs, sperm, embryos, testicular and ovarian tissue, allows biological material to be stored for many years. This procedure is necessary for cancer patients to preserve their reproductive cells and organs, so that later, after chemotherapy (or radiotherapy) and cure, they can give birth to their own child, ”says the Nova Clinic.

In addition, there is an increasing demand for the preservation of its own germ cells taken from the body in youth, for their use after 35 years, when the natural decline in the ability to conceive begins. A new concept of “deferred motherhood and fatherhood” has appeared.

You can store embryos in our country for as long as you like. But it costs money. And many simply stop paying for storage when it becomes clear: they do not plan to have children in the family anymore.

As Nova Clinic said, there is also an embryo adoption program in our country. As a rule, these are the so-called “rejected” donor embryos, that is, received in IVF programs, but not used. When biological parents reach the end of the shelf life of cryopreserved embryos, there are several options: extend storage in case the couple wants to have children in the future; dispose of embryos; donate embryos to the clinic.

“You need to understand that the last two options are associated with a serious moral choice: on the one hand, it is psychologically difficult for parents to simply discard the embryos, destroy them, and on the other, to come to terms with the idea that strangers will transfer a genetically native embryo and then live somewhere. in another family, their child is even more difficult. Despite this, many parents still donate their embryos to the clinic. The procedure is anonymous, the “adoptive parents” do not know anything about the biological parents of the embryo, just as the biological parents do not know who the embryo will be transferred to. “Embryo adoption” is not the most common procedure, but it is still done. It is also in our clinic, ”the experts say.