PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsCommentEmbryo relinquishment for family building — what's in a name?

BioNews

Embryo relinquishment for family building — what's in a name?

Published 17 January 2013 posted in Comment and appears in BioNews 635

Authors

Professor Eric Blyth

Dr Lucy Frith

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.

In the US the relinquishment of embryos for family building is the subject of intense ideological debate. This has occurred not least because of the competing discourses of models of 'embryo donation' and 'embryo adoption'...

In the US the relinquishment of embryos for family building is the subject of intense ideological debate. This has occurred not least because of the competing discourses of — on the one hand — a model of 'embryo donation', the traditional model espoused by some fertility professionals that to a large extent promotes anonymous donation (1), and - on the other - a model of 'embryo adoption', promoted by faith-based infant adoption programmes that have branched out into home-finding for unused embryos.

The latter incorporates certain aspects of contemporary infant adoption placement practices, such as enabling relinquishing couples to choose recipient families for their embryos, making available information on genetic origins for infants conceived as a result, and promoting information-exchange and ongoing contact between relinquishing and recipient families.

An aspect of the political stakes were heightened when, in 2002, the George W. Bush administration announced federal funding to support 'public awareness campaigns on embryo adoption' with an initial grant of $1 million (3). This programme has been maintained by the Obama administration and currently receives annual funding of $4.2 million and has received a total of $19.4 million in federal grants since 2002 (4). For its part, the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine criticised the concept of 'embryo adoption' on the grounds that the embryo is not a person and therefore should not be the subject of adoption procedures (5).

Behind the rhetoric, however, lies the reality that, in the US, couples who have completed IVF treatment and have embryos they wish to relinquish to others for family building have a choice between the largely anonymous donation programmes or using a faith-based agency to ensure some continuing connection with any resulting child. Often, relinquishing couples perceive these children born from their embryo(s) not only as their own genetic children but as the full siblings of their children — albeit being brought up in another family (2).

Two studies of couples who have unused embryos remaining in storage following IVF treatment have identified such couples' preferences for a form of directed or conditional relinquishment that satisfies their needs for continuing contact and the interests of children in both relinquishing and recipient families to know about and have contact — if so desired — with their genetic kin (6, 7). All too often such services are available only through the services of an embryo adoption programme, as our own recent study, undertaken with couples who have relinquished embryos through a Christian embryo adoption programme, has shown (8, 9).

These studies show that, quite apart from what we regard as the general preference for non-anonymous gamete and embryo donation on ethical grounds (10-12), at least some patients with unused embryos, i.e. prospective embryo donors, desire some measure of conditional relinquishment that can include choosing recipients and varying forms of openness and future contact.

For these couples, abstract concepts of the moral status of the embryo — and associated concerns related to 'abortion politics' — have little salience. Rather, their preferences are based on their perception of their embryo as a future child whose significance is derived from future kin relationships with themselves and their existing children and the difficulty, stress and expense that they have undergone to create it.

In our view, the rhetorical and ideological gulf that sets apart advocates of 'embryo donation' and 'embryo adoption', is bridgeable by facilitating genuine choice in this area. The range of options available for those with unused embryos, such as providing conditional donation programmes, should be extended so that patient choice is increased and individuals' reproductive autonomy enhanced.

Related Articles

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
20 February 2013 • 1 minute read

Frozen embryo 'adoption' scheme to lose US government funding

by Jess Ware

A US scheme that promotes the 'adoption' of embryos produced during IVF but not implanted is likely to have its government funding withdrawn in the next financial year...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
4 October 2012 • 2 minutes read

India debates new surrogacy laws

by Nishat Hyder

The Indian Parliament is debating new surrogacy laws to establish a clear regulatory framework to reduce exploitation in its commercial surrogacy market. If passed in its current form, India will recognise surrogacy agreements as legally binding....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Comment
5 November 2010 • 2 minutes read

Donor anonymity to bite the dust in South Australia

by Professor Eric Blyth

Australia has been a noted pacemaker in the field of assisted reproduction. It was the first nation to report embryo relinquishment for family-building, and a pregnancy and live birth from a previously cryopreserved human embryo. The Australian state of Victoria was among the world's first jurisdictions to remove the rights of gamete and embryo donors to remain anonymous...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
Comment
23 August 2010 • 4 minutes read

Wither the HFEA and the fate of donor registers?

by Professor Eric Blyth and 4 others

The UK government's review of Arm's Length Bodies (ALB) in the National Health Service has indicated that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has had its day as a free-standing regulatory body...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Comment
17 May 2010 • 4 minutes read

Consent for embryo creation and storage: time for a change in the law?

by Dr Anna Smajdor

When Natallie Evans lost her case to prevent the destruction of her embryos in 2007, many people were moved by her plight. The letter of the law had been followed, but with tragic consequences for her...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
Comment
11 December 2009 • 4 minutes read

Embryo donation is not like adoption

by Dr Fiona MacCallum

The recent report by the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) (1), stating that the use of the term 'embryo adoption' is misleading, addresses a question which has been asked since the first successful donation of an embryo. Should treatment with donated embryos be approached as any other assisted reproductive technology (ART), or should it be seen as another form of adoption? Children conceived through embryo donation do resemble adopted chi..

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« 'Just' giving: PET's evening debate on gamete donation from the donor perspective

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
25 July 2022 • 4 minutes read

Was the Women's Health Strategy worth the wait?

25 July 2022 • 5 minutes read

200 Years of Mendel: From Peas to Personalised Medicine

18 July 2022 • 5 minutes read

The birth of genetics: celebrating 200 years of Mendel

15 July 2022 • 2 minutes read

FILM: Prioritising Patient Safety – How to Minimise Risk in Fertility Treatment

11 July 2022 • 6 minutes read

Dutch Embryos Act under revision

1 August 2022 • 4 minutes read

Women's Health Strategy plans reflect rising needs of same-sex female couples

25 July 2022 • 4 minutes read

Was the Women's Health Strategy worth the wait?

25 July 2022 • 4 minutes read

Why the UK should extend the 14-day rule to 28 days

25 July 2022 • 5 minutes read

200 Years of Mendel: From Peas to Personalised Medicine

18 July 2022 • 5 minutes read

The birth of genetics: celebrating 200 years of Mendel

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856