Embryo Adoptions Raise Legal Questions
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 18, 2004 — -- Medical technology has created new ways for infertile couples to have children, but as science advances faster than the law, it raises controversial legal questions about when life actually begins.
When couples go through fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization, usually many more eggs are fertilized than are used. When a couple decides they have enough children, if there are still viable embryos available, they must decide whether to donate their embryos to research, thaw them and let them die, or donate them to a couple who is unable to conceive.
Nearly a half-million leftover embryos are in limbo right now. They're stored in a handful of fertility clinics across the country, including the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, which currently has 60 frozen embryos in storage.
Some couples pay $1,500 a year to have them stored indefinitely. Some want them to be used in stem cell research. Others are offering them to other couples who can't conceive on their own.
John and Suzanne Stanmeyer of Alexandria, Va., had been trying unsuccessfully to have a child naturally for four years. When they were unable to, they came to Knoxville, the closest city to them with a national embryo donation center.
Suzanne Stanmeyer had three embryos that were donated by another couple implanted in her uterus. Her husband said he had "hope, excitement and a little bit of nervousness" about whether the embryos would survive to grow into children.
The Stanmeyers also were told very little about the couple the embryos came from because the donors decided to remain anonymous.
"She won't have the choice of knowing who the genetic parents were," said Dr. Jeffrey Keenan, who runs Knoxville's National Embryo Donation Center. "She'll just know certain things about their physical characteristics and their medical history."
The Stanmeyers said they know the risks with embryo adoption. Adoptable embryos are those considered less healthy than the ones used by the donor family, but Keenan said they are viable.
"We've given her a pretty good chance of getting pregnant, as good as you can do with this type of procedure," Keenan said.
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