What to do with remaining embryos?

Parents who have struggled with infertility and find themselves with a surplus of embryos, struggle with what do with them.

When parents are going through the process, they usually want enough embryos in case it takes more than one try to get pregnant. They may also want extra embryos for a future sibling project. So when they’ve grown their family to a point they are happy with and find themselves with a surplus, what do they do?

The California mom who implanted all eight of her embryos and delivered all eight babies couldn’t fathom disposing or donating any of her embryos.

Parents have the option of keeping the embryos in storage, donating to an infertile couple or donating to research.

The latest research shows that many couples don’t know what to do and continue to pay storage fees year after year.

Donating to research can pose a problem due to current federal legislation. Also, some parents feel a sense of responsibility for their embryos. They still count them as their children—their offspring, so donating them to research seems cold to them.

Letting another infertile couple adopt their embryos would be a very sweet and unselfish act if the parents can live the knowledge that their biological children are out there in the world somewhere.

There is no easy answer to this question and parents will have to come to their own conclusion. In the meantime, storage facilities continue to host hundreds of thousands of embryos until parents make those difficult decisions.

Are you and your partner storing embryos?