Is embryo donation right for me?

For parents who have undergone the emotional and expensive process of in vitro fertilization (“IVF”) to complete their families and have remaining embryos in storage, they must make a difficult choice for their embryos: (1) continue having children, (2) keep the embryos in storage and continue to pay expensive storage fees, (3) donate them to science for research, (4) allow them to be thawed out and die, or (5) our personal favorite, donate them to another deserving individual or couple struggling with infertility! 

Donors consider embryo donation for the following reasons:

• Fulfillment in knowing that the donated embabies have a chance at life

• Knowledge that they can help make another’s dreams of parenthood come true

• There is little to no cost; most donation-related expenses are reimbursed or paid by the recipient parents

An estimated one million frozen embryos are in storage in the United States. Recipient parents gravitate towards embryo donation because the process is easier and more readily available than adoption. Receiving donated embryos is also more affordable and carries less uncertainty. Adoptions often involve in-home studies, require court hearings, high legal fees and come with a great deal of leniency for birth parents. One of the most beautiful things about carrying a donated embryo is that it is the recipient parent’s blood, nutrition, and body nourishing the growing embaby. 

How does it work? Once you have found your recipient parent or donor match, we will get to know your family, needs, and objectives. After that, we will get to work on your embryo donation agreement and work with the other party’s attorney to negotiate and fine-tune it. Once we have notarized signatures on a final written agreement, we notify your fertility clinic and cryostorage facility that ownership has been legally transferred so you can look forward to your frozen embryo transfer (“FET”) day!