“Discernment is not simply telling the difference between right and wrong. Rather, it is telling the difference between right…..and ALMOST right.
-Spurgeon
Have you ever wondered, “Is embryo adoption a fertility treatment?” or “Is IVF the same as embryo adoption?” If this is you, you’ve come to the right place! Today, we’re going to explore five critical aspects of embryo adoption vs. IVF that you must know!
In Vitro Fertilization
1. IVF typically begins with the goal of creating a genetically related child.
2. A woman undergoes a physically invasive and emotionally challenging process of egg collection to create embryos in the lab.
3. If one or both partners are unable to produce viable cells for embryo creation, egg or sperm donors may be utilized as an alternative.
4. IVF often creates more embryos than the patient plans to gestate because of the high mortality rate of embryos and the costs associated with an egg retrieval cycle.
5. IVF is difficult for many families to afford. Although costs are likely to decrease soon, IVF has historically been associated with expenses that are not affordable for many.
Embryo Adoption
1. Embryo adoption begins with the objective to give a completely unrelated embryo a chance to live. It offers adoptive parents a chance for pregnancy and parenthood.
2. Embryo adoption requires a healthy uterus and a simple embryo transfer procedure at just the right time.
3. In embryo adoption, sperm and egg have already met to create a genetically unique human being. Adoptive parents don’t create a baby; the embryo is already in existence. (See understanding the embryo for more info.)
4. Embryo adoption places these embryos with families who want to give them a chance.
5. Anonymous embryo adoption is financially attainable for most people. You pay a clinic for the cost of the transfer, ultrasounds, and blood draws. Medications are advised if necessitated by an underlying condition to ensure the highest possible chance of embryo survival.
Adoption through a Christian agency is more expensive, (still less than IVF) but highly encouraged. Check out Snowflake adoptions or the NEDC!
Why are we talking about embryo adoption vs. IVF?
First, everyone should know about embryo adoption before an infertility diagnosis. I desperately hope you never suffer from infertility. But if you do, you should know that fertility clinics are anxious to place you on their IVF conveyor. Once you are on it, your funds and your dreams are now captive to an institution that may or may not share your same values. Beware!
You won’t know about embryo adoption until other options are exhausted.
Second, embryo adoption is last resort, because IVF is big business for your clinic. If they can talk you into utilizing donated sperm or egg, they will!
Here’s the tea. (So have a seat.) We have established with several clinics between Seattle and Portland over the last few years. All advised IVF, even though we made it clear that embryo adoption was the only reason we walked through the doors. Even the most recent practitioner couldn’t help suggesting it–with full awareness of our 7 adopted frozen embryos waiting for us. THEY CRAZY.
My point is…..clinics have no motivation to talk about embryo adoption as an alternate path unless you bring it up first.
IVF is a business thriving on your desperation.
Third, it is worth noting that embryo storage fees are another significant contribution to the highly profitable fertility market, valued at $34.7 billion globally. The industry knows what many unsuspecting patients don’t: it can be torturous to part with embryos. Indefinite passive income through storage fees is feathering someone’s nest. And well, birds stink. This smells like exploitation of our human connection to these little ones we’ve made.
Embryo adoption is a little-known option
Fourth, donation/adoption has only recently become mainstream. The first happened in 1998
Also, maybe it’s just me, but every time I have searched for “embryo donation” on a fertility clinic’s website, I have found it buried under a stack of subpages or not advertised at all.
The last time we adopted through a clinic, I found their embryo program at the very bottom of a page under “LGBTQ+ options.” And they will not use the term “adoption” which further confuses the issue. Donated sperm, egg, or embryo, all the same? Legally, yes. Morally, no. Coincidence or conspiracy to limit our family-building alternatives to creating embryos with donor tissues and IVF? Decide for yourself! You probably know where I stand on that since we’re running out of conspiracies that haven’t already proven true…
Not everyone aligns with IVF, but almost everyone can consider embryo adoption.
Fifth, infertility is a big deal today, and many people are trying to see the pros and cons of embryo adoption vs. IVF. The issue of “extra” (I shudder to say the word) embryos is a growing concern as well. This begs the question…..might God be preparing Christians who are struggling to conceive as open arms to these little ones?
Because of the wide range of comfort with the ethics of IVF in the Christian community, we need to know what it is and what it isn’t. There’s a whole lot of confusion out there!
In light of this, I’m grateful you’re still here, allowing us to fill you in on the latest lingo. You might feel like I did the first time my friend told me to yeet an object. “You want me to do what, now?” Love you, gen Z. You’re the G.O.A.T.
We need to be aware of unethical practices masquerading as adoption
Sixth, the trickiest contrast of embryo adoption vs. IVF. Most couples seeking a child through IVF are seeking a biological one. But sadly, “shopping” for certain genetic characteristics via sperm or egg donor is a real thing. GYNEM clinic in Prague will create designer baby embryos for you using donated cells. (Unless you are a bi-racial couple, then you don’t qualify.) No. For real. Can I get a head explosion emoji?
And this, class, is a first-rate specimen of Eugenics.
Commodifying human beings is corrupt and is NOT adoption. Consider this excerpt, taken directly from their website:
“If IVF and egg donation are not suitable for you and your partner, you might want to consider embryo donation. In this case, we look at our donor database and based on certain physical characteristics of you and your partner we select a sperm and egg donor. Sperm and egg from these two donors are brought together in the lab to create an embryo whose legal ownership is passed on to you and your partner.”
Embryo abandonment is a major dilemma for our generation
Shockingly, it was estimated in 2019 that there are at least 90,000 abandoned embryos in the U.S. alone. This number is estimated to have grown into the millions by now, 6 years later. As Trump’s affordable IVF was in the news again last week, everyone needs to know the potential consequences of embryo adoption vs. IFV.
It’s important to note that children have the right to live within the loving home of the married mother and father who created them. However, when this is not possible, adoption is the only compassionate and life-affirming option for our littlest image bearers. How we choose to navigate these ethics as a society is important. It speaks volumes to our beliefs in the dignity of human life or the converse.
And…I care about you!
Last but not least, I want you to know about embryo adoption vs. IVF because I want my feet to be beautiful. You know, that verse: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news?!” That one! Since my sister’s wedding several years ago was the last time I splurged on a pedicure, metaphorical beauty is the only hope for my feet.
But I know what it’s like to suffer with infertility. I know how every month can feel like an eternity. The ache of a broken spirit literally makes you sick. I’m sad to say that not unlike Eve in the garden, I fell for the lie (from the pit of hell) that God was holding out on me. He made me offer up this one thing I thought I couldn’t live without over and over again.
As described in Jeremiah 2:15, my cisterns were quite elaborate. I spent my entire young adulthood fashioning them. With such noble aspirations as being surrounded by a bunch of sweet blessings, how could God deny me? But these most impressive hopes and dreams of mine couldn’t even hold water. Jesus longed to give me what the world can’t take–Himself. I was like the woman at the well, parched in places water couldn’t fix. If I had just asked for living water, I would have been filled. (John 10:4-14)
I am grateful for that difficult season, because God needed to be first in my heart before I adopted. My kids’ ability to flourish depended on it. And apparently, I was a tough nut to crack. The Bible says that when we seek Him first, everything else will fall into place. I am here to testify that this is 100,000,000 % true.
Easy to say now, I suppose. But please hear me when I say, I’m here for every person just like me, back then.
I wish I had known of embryo adoption sooner, and I pray this reaches those it’s meant for. We don’t always get to know why we suffer through such things. We will, someday. But know this: God has a beautiful plan for you, my dear. Maybe embryo adoption is part of it! <3
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Cor 13:12
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