Embryo Donation

Embryo donation is one option for what to do with the fresh or frozen embryos that remain after a course of in vitro fertilisation (IVF). It is defined as the giving — generally without payment — of embryos left over from IVF to recipients, either for procreative implantation or for research. Most people with surplus embryos make this decision after they have completed their own families or have stopped using IVF. Recipients who receive donated embryos for pregnancy typically have the fresh or frozen embryos transferred into a prepared uterus in order to achieve pregnancy and childbirth; any child born this way is biologically related to the people whose egg and sperm created the embryo, not to the woman who carries the pregnancy. Embryos donated for research are typically used for clinical training, quality-improvement research, or human embryonic stem-cell research. In the United States, donors must, where possible, be screened for a series of infectious diseases, and embryo donation is legally treated as a transfer of property rather than as an adoption. Arrangements range from anonymous, where the parties do not know each other, to open, where identities and contact details are shared.

*Reference text adapted from Wikipedia (Embryo donation) under CC BY-SA 4.0. Verify with a qualified clinician before treatment.*