June 2022 edits originally published in 2017
The theme that is consistent is the broken view that the child at the start of life made in IVF is seen as a potential not current person and within this dangerous view the child is seen as a commodity. In our society, IVF is considered to be the greatest gift for families who are struggling with infertility. IVF provides families who cannot conceive on their own with a child. IVF is touted as the solution for those that struggle with infertility to have a newfound hope of having a child. This is what our society proclaims about IVF yet many look at the end result without knowing the hidden facts about the process. Each IVF cycle is different, and, in each cycle, there are a different number of embryos made depending on the situation. These children are seen as “potential humans/persons” and secondly, I think many families who do a few unethical aspects in IVF, and I think they do not see these embryos as their children but as “potential” humans. That is where I think the problem comes down.
Now, these parents are told they have “options” for their “leftover embryos” such as one can freeze embryos for later use or one can donate them or one can donate them to put them up for adoption.
Freezing a child for later use can cause a mindset of viewing the child as property rather than as a person. Live Action shared about a speech that Dr. Caruso (a former IVF doctor) did for Pro-Life Action League, “Caruso states that back then they would take early embryos and implant them, but that technology and treatments kept advancing and therefore embryos would end up being frozen at later and later stages of development. “As this was happening, we were beginning to leave these embryos in culture longer and longer,” he said. “[…] we focused on the babies. […] We never really thought much beyond that.” Live Action shares how Dr. Caruso said that the children through IVF are viewed as “manufactured goods.”(https://www.liveaction.org/news/former-ivf-doctor-children-viewed-manufactured-goods/) Oftentimes in IVF the children’s personhood is not recognized from fertilization.
Each child kept in storage is a priceless gift and instead of the industry seeing the child as property/ “just an embryo” they should be see each child as we all should be seen as the priceless God-given and God-made gift we each are from the moment of fertilization. Your preborn child’s storage cost does not define their worth as they are a priceless gift from God. I would encourage you to implant your remaining children inside of you and if you make an adoption plan for your child pray that the parents who adopt your children are 100% pro life who will never destroy your children not for genetic diagnoses or any reason as the adoptive parents would realize the gift of your children that are entrusted through them by adoption.
Your children need protection and just as your 5 year old needs your protection so do your other children and if you feel personally that you cannot care for this child then allowing this child to be loved by a family who can provide for those needs is the greatest gift you can give to your child! This is called “embryo” adoption. NEDC provides families with the ability to donate their children and to have their children then adopted to loving families when the adopted families choose their children.:)
On another note: I think that IVF can become “a price tag/left over embryo” mentality not a child and parent viewpoint. I want to give an example by imagining you have a 5 year old child and you can’t take care of them so you are given 5 options for their life. You could first allow them to perish or you can donate them to research so this child can be experimented on in the name of ‘healthcare’ or you can give them an adoptive family. Adoption is the only answer.
I once heard someone say to replace the word embryo with child and see how concerning it sounds. As I quote this site use the word children instead and see how broken it is. This entire article shows the transactional and impersonal and property/commodity-minded view they have toward children who are simply at a young stage of life, that is all. They are people as much as scientists and doctors. It is odd that the scientists and doctors see children at the embryonic level as not the same as they would a newborn child. Why do so many not value children in IVF well it is because they have been told and taught that an “embryo” is not a person.
Yet personhood begins at fertilization.
The below article is not one that I endorse but I share for two reasons as 1 it gives an overview, not from a pro life viewpoint, of the heartbreaking believed quote “options” of what to do with “extra” children. What is broken about this article and what I want you to see is the mentality that is brokenly expressed throughout the article. This viewpoint sees the children as a “potential person” “potential family member” “potential child.” Who is to define who is a person, family member and child? The moment the child is made at fertilization that person is a person, a child and a family member to the family. No child should be seen as an “extra” or “unwanted” and their “unwanted-ness” is no justification to kill them for any reason. As you read read the word child not embryo.
The site oddly entitled, “Very Well Family” shares, “When you start IVF treatment, the possibility of having extra embryos at the end may not even cross your mind. All your anxieties may be focused on having enough (or any) embryos to transfer.
Part of your IVF treatment fees should include cryopreservation of any additional unused embryos and storage fees for the short term. If your cycle isn’t successful, those embryos can be thawed and transferred during your next cycle, or you may decide to complete another “fresh” cycle and keep the frozen embryos for a future cycle.
But let’s say you completed a successful cycle, and you’ve got unused embryos on ice. You don’t need to decide right away what to do with the leftover embryos, but it’s better for your emotional well-being if you don’t wait too long to decide. Here are some options for unused cryopreserved embryos:
Save Extra Embryos for a Future Cycle
If you know you’re not finished building your family, then saving the embryos for a future transfer probably won’t be a difficult decision. In fact, having additional embryos for this purpose can be a huge relief.
Frozen embryo transfer (sometimes abbreviated as FET) is significantly less expensive than a fresh IVF cycle. FET costs an average of $2,500, or about $10,000 cheaper than the average IVF cycle. Also, the physical and emotional stress is lower than going through a full IVF cycle again.
What if you weren’t planning on having more kids? Maybe you conceived twins or triplets, and you’ve reached your planned family size plan. Some couples decide to have more kids than they originally planned, and use the embryos they have until they run out.
However, using every embryo created isn’t an option for every family. You may not want more children, or you may be unable to have more for medical, financial, or practical reasons.
Donate to Another Infertile Couple
Another option you may have is to donate your unused embryos to another infertile couple. This is sometimes referred to controversially as embryo “adoption,” though whether the term “adoption” is proper in this case is questionable.
Embryo donation may be handled via an agency or your fertility clinic. Typically, agencies charge significantly more to potential recipients. On the other hand, an agency may give the donor more insight into who will receive their embryos.
You won’t get any financial payment for the donated embryos, but the recipients should cover some of the embryo donation process fees. Embryo donation may be done as an open or closed donation.
An open donation means that you may know the recipient—a friend or family member—or, if you donate them to a couple you didn’t know before, you may maintain some sort of contact between each other.
In a closed donation, you will have no contact with the family who gets the embryos. Some fertility clinics will only do closed donations. Be sure to ask your clinic for details.
Embryo donation isn’t for everyone, and it’s important you completely understand the possible psychological and legal implications of your decision. Consultation with a psychologist, as well as a waiting period of a few months, is usually required before you can donate your embryos. This is for your protection and to ensure that you are making an informed decision.
You should also be sure to speak to a lawyer familiar with the reproductive law. To avoid a conflict of interest, your lawyer should not be the same lawyer for the agency, clinic, or recipient family, even if you know the family who will receive your embryos.
Also know that once you donate your embryos, you can no longer make decisions on how they are used. If the embryos become children, you have no say on how they are raised. If not all of your donated embryos are used, the donor-recipient will not be able to choose what will be done with them.
Donate to Science
Another possible option is to donate extra embryos to scientific research. Rest assured that embryos donated to science will not become babies or children. The embryos will be destroyed in the process of the research, but the knowledge gained may give someone else another chance at life.
Not everyone can donate their embryos to science. Your local laws may restrict your ability to donate them, your clinic may not be able to facilitate the donation, or your embryos may not be appropriate for current research needs.
You should know that you have a right to ask how your donated embryos will be used.
Thaw and Dispose of the Embryos
Another option is to have the embryos thawed and disposed of by the clinic. This is usually done in the embryo lab of the fertility clinic or at a cryobank where they are stored.
The clinic may be able to give the thawed embryos over to you for burial, though legal laws regarding the disposal of biological tissue may complicate this. Whether the unused embryos are disposed of at the clinic or given over to you for burial, you may hold a ceremony or self-created ritual to mark the passing of the embryos.
Another option offered by some clinics involves transferring the embryos to your uterus at a time in your cycle when pregnancy is impossible. This is sometimes called “compassionate transfer.”
Keep Leftover Embryos Frozen
You can also keep your extra embryos on ice, either until you decide what to do or indefinitely. This isn’t free, of course. Fertility clinics charge fees for storage, which can range anywhere from several hundred dollars per year up to a couple thousand dollars.
Some clinics limit how long the embryos can be in storage in their facility and may require your embryos to be transferred to a cryobank. This will come with additional fees.
If your clinic requires transfer to a cryobank, be sure to research your options. For example, ask if the cryobank would allow the donation of the embryos to another couple, or to science. Ask how they would handle disposal of the embryos if you choose that option in the future. And what would be involved to transfer them to a clinic to be used to further build your family?
Keep in mind that delaying a decision on what to do with your frozen embryos may lead to complications later.
For example, if you wait too long, having another child with the embryos may not be practical or medically recommended. (As far as we know, frozen embryos don’t have a shelf-life limit,1 so a donation to another couple may still be possible.)
Legal problems can also arise if you delay deciding what to do. For example, in case of divorce, who gets to say how the embryos are used? When you die, who will inherit the embryos? And how should the inheritors handle the embryos’ disposal or continued cryopreservation costs?
In case of death, your will should stipulate what should happen to the embryos. If no instructions are left, and the clinic is unable to reach someone regarding your embryos, after a period of time they will likely be thawed and disposed of.
Note that not every fertility clinic offers every option. Ideally, you’ll want to discuss your future embryo options with the fertility clinic before you start treatment.
If you didn’t do this, and your clinic doesn’t offer you the options you want, you may be able to have the embryos transferred to another clinic. This can be costly.”(https://www.verywellfamily.com/extra-embryos-after-ivf-what-are-your-options-1960215)
The wickedness in the sanitized calm language used to kill children is sickening and disturbing. The view to have them destroyed after the children were thawed to them being killed in through research or to see the child and for it be in the article seen as “compassionate” also as the other views and excuses and justifications to kill due to PGD testing, selective reduction (the killing of children if there are “too many”) as if there are “too many” children.
The heartbreaking evil to view children as potential and as a means to be killed that “someone else’s life” is evil. This quote from the site is from the pit of hell. See below, “Another possible option is to donate extra embryos to scientific research. Rest assured that embryos donated to science will not become babies or children. The embryos will be destroyed in the process of the research, but the knowledge gained may give someone else another chance at life.
Not everyone can donate their embryos to science. Your local laws may restrict your ability to donate them, your clinic may not be able to facilitate the donation, or your embryos may not be appropriate for current research needs.
You should know that you have a right to ask how your donated embryos will be used.”( https://www.verywellfamily.com/extra-embryos-after-ivf-what-are-your-options-1960215)
Another evil quote from the site is the following, “Thaw and Dispose of the Embryos
Another option is to have the embryos thawed and disposed of by the clinic. This is usually done in the embryo lab of the fertility clinic or at a cryobank where they are stored.
The clinic may be able to give the thawed embryos over to you for burial, though legal laws regarding the disposal of biological tissue may complicate this. Whether the unused embryos are disposed of at the clinic or given over to you for burial, you may hold a ceremony or self-created ritual to mark the passing of the embryos.
Another option offered by some clinics involves transferring the embryos to your uterus at a time in your cycle when pregnancy is impossible. This is sometimes called “compassionate transfer.”( https://www.verywellfamily.com/extra-embryos-after-ivf-what-are-your-options-1960215)
Children are not potential children so this debunks the evil view that the “embryo” could “become” a baby or child as they are already one at fertilization. The children are people and the view that a parent should ever donate their children to research and to be killed and that the preemptive killing of children is seen as a “should know that you have a right to ask how your donated embryos will be used” is even a quote “option” that a parent has an “option” to kill their children is evil.
The children who are murdered in the name of “compassionate transfer” is the sickest because it is the bluntest and the flat-out raw way the industry is telling parents to kill their children. I can understand someone believing the lie of “donation” etc as it “sounds deceptive” but for them to use the language of “compassionate” and then to say what they are saying is evil.
In IVF the preborn child is treated not as a treasured child but as property,
“What is the reason that IVF fails?If there is an embryo transfer done, the reason that IVF fails is because of embryo implantation failure. However, that is not very helpful.
When IVF fails there was implantation failure, but we do not know whether the failure to implant was due to a problem with the embryos or a problem with the uterus. Most fertility specialists believe that in more than 95% of IVF failures it is due to arrest of the embryos.
Embryonic arrest is quite often due to chromosomal or other genetic abnormalities in those embryos that made them too “weak” to continue normal development and sustained implantation.
Unfortunately, these issues are mostly a “black box” at the present time – unless we do preimplantation genetic screeing, PGS, for chromosomal status on the embryos prior to transfer, we can not know if they are likely to be competent.
Embryo quality issues and IVF implantation or failure potential
Poor quality 6-cell embryo on day 3
Learn about day 3 embryo quality and grading
Blastocyst transfer is a relatively new IVF culture technique that allows us to maintain high IVF pregnancy rates when only transferring 1 or (usually) 2 embryos to the mother. This results in almost no risk for triplets.” These two comments degrade the gift of life! First to consider a child “qualified” and to state regards to having two children implanted to say, “This results in almost no risk for triplets.”(http://www.advancedfertility.com/ivf-failed-second-ivf-success.htm)
There are side effects to IVF such as:
post-traumatic stress and depression from failed IVF cycles, children who were created through IVF struggling with ‘survivors guilt as they learn that their siblings were either frozen indefinitely or destroyed.”(Live Action.org)
If you are considering either please look up Dr. Anthony Caruso, a former IVF doctor, whose story is teaching society what IVF truly is.
As we wrap up IVF’s reality I want to share with you some quotes and a story from a former IVF doctor sharing about a story of a woman who was chosen to have a ‘cerclage placed in order to prevent her child from being born too soon, but she asked her doctor to remove it because she felt she could just try again. She was okay with her child dying, because she would be able to do another round of IVF and create another one.”(Live Action.org)
The viewpoint to see children as less than and as a commodity, not a person is what gives the broken and money-driven industry the viewpoint and parents the broken view to dismiss the children’s lives.
Resource:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/extra-embryos-after-ivf-what-are-your-options-1960215
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-horrors-of-in-vitro-fertilization
http://liveactionnews.org/former-ivf-doctor-children-viewed-manufactured-goods/
His Love & Care 