New Embryo Adoption Facilitators

In 2014, two new Embryo Adoption facilitators entered the market, making a profound impact on the way that Embryo Adoption is done.

Compass Adoption, Inc. has launched an Embryo Adoption program that is focused towards providing affordable Embryo Adoption Facilitation. Providing their services below cost, this non-profit agency subsidizes their costs with private fundraising efforts in order to provide exceptional services at an affordable rate. Anastasia Taylor, VP of Family Services explained,"We are very excited to assist families in growing through embryo adoption, while providing a pro-life solution for families with frozen embryos."

The National Registry for Adoption has a similar goal in mind with their tagline, "Adoption Simplified." Founder Charis Boone Johnson stated, "We're simplifying the matching process so that you spend less time waiting and more time connecting with embryo donors or waiting families." Their website, www.NRFA.org, provides a forum for families to connect and match by posting profiles with their descriptive information.

For more information, please visit www.CompassAdoption.org and www.NRFA.org.

Is Embryo Adoption Immoral?

By Russell D. Moore

I received an email from a man who was upset about a couple in his extended family who are pursuing a so-called “snowflake adoption,” the adoption of a “frozen embryo” (to use, for clarity’s purpose only, the satanically clinical lingo of the current era). This couple had been led to do this after reading Adopted for Life, so he wanted to correspond.

How, he wondered, could I support this kind of adoption when I am opposed (and I am, strongly) to in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor assisted reproduction, and other technologies that violate the one-flesh union and the relationship between love and procreation. The same thing, he argued, is going on here with a donor embryo being implanted in an adopting mother’s womb.

First of all, there is no such thing as a “donor embryo.”

Someone can donate sperm or ovum or even a heart or a liver, but no one can “donate” an “embryo.” No one can “own” an “embryo.” An “embryo” isn’t a thing; he or she is a “who.” Our Lord Jesus is the pinnacle of the image of God (Heb. 1:1-3). He was an “embryo” (Luke 1:42-43). The “embryonic” John responded to our Lord’s “embryonic” presence in precisely the same way he responded to his adult presence on the banks of the Jordan River.

These so-called “snowflakes” are brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus are stored in cryogenic containers in fertility clinics as the “extras” of IVF projects. They already exist, and they already exist as persons created in the image of God.

And there are Christians called to adopt them, to bring them to birth through pregnancy, and to raise them in love. To be sure, the numbers of children who can be adopted in this way are a microscopic percentage of the whole. And the numbers even of those who can be safely brought to birth is even smaller.

Isn’t this simply an embrace of the kind of “Brave New World” Frankenstein technology we elsewhere lament?

No.

Adopting parents are not complicit in the “production” (I shudder to type such a horrible word in reference to a human creature) of these children. Again, the children are already conceived. The adopting parents are no more endorsing the technologies involved than parents adopting from an unwed mother are endorsing fornication or adultery.

Embryo adoption also doesn’t carry with it the violence to the one-flesh union that comes with surrogacy or sperm donation, in which one spouse’s genetic material is joined with a stranger’s.

Embryo adoption would be problematic if the adoptions themselves became a further commodity in the buying and selling transactions of the reproductive technology business or if these adoptions were a widespread incentive for couples to justify the decision to “create” and freeze additional embryos. This is not, though, presently the case and doesn’t appear to be likely to become so anytime soon.

Originally posted here.
Russell D. Moore is president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Christians Should Oppose Stem Cell Research on Embryos

According to The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Christians should not support Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

By: Joe Carter, December 12, 2013

Aren’t embryonic stem cells more effective than adult stem cells at treating diseases? No. In fact, just the opposite is true: there are more than 70 conditions currently being treated with adult stem cells, and zero with embryonic stem cells. 

Despite the media hype of the early 2000s, embryonic stem cell research has proven to be useless at treating medical conditions. When tested on animals, embryonic stem cells turned into tumors. As biological engineer James Sherley once explained, “Figuring out how to use human embryonic stem cells directly by transplantation into patients is tantamount to solving the cancer problem.” Government and private funding sources have consistently shown a preference for adult stem cell research. For every dollar spent on embryonic stem cell research, four dollars is spent on research using adult stem cells. However, because of its unethical nature, more needs to be done to oppose any federal funding and discourage private funding of embryo-destructive research. 

Can Christians support embryonic stem cell research? Several passages in the Bible strongly suggest that human life begins at conception  (Job 31:13-15; Ps. 51:5; 139:13-16; Matt. 1:20). The Bible is also clear about the taking of innocent life (Exod. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). For these reasons, Christians should not support medical research that requires killing innocent human beings at the earliest stage of their development. 

See more at: http://erlc.com/article/what-christians-should-know-about-embryonic-stem-cell-research#sthash.INRD8Z3R.dpuf

Top 10 Benefits of Embryo Adoption

1. If a woman is experiencing premature menopause, or another infertility condition in which her own eggs are not viable for reproductive purposes, she can still become pregnant with a donor embryo.
2. In one cost analysis study conducted in the United States, embryo adoption is approximately half the cost of an egg donation.
3. Despite the connotations associated with the name, an embryo adoption is actually a transfer of property – not the adoption of a child. Therefore, the donating couple is not legally responsible in any way should a child be produced from the embryo.
4. The discarding of embryos is ethically problematic for some individuals. Allowing these embryos to be used to help create a new life is an alternative to disposal or use in research.
5. Many embryo adoption programs will conduct a thorough home study to determine whether or not the embryo will be given to a couple who can provide a safe and loving environment should a child result.
6. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, embryo adoptions have a national pregnancy success rate of 43 percent and live birth rate of 35 percent.
7. The average time between submitting an application to receiving a donation is approximately 6 months, much shorter than the average time to receive an egg donation or adopt a child.
8. Many embryo banks include information about the donating individuals in order to help match the recipient with desired ethnic, sex, or physical traits.
9. This adoption process is regulated by the government and all appropriate disease screening is required by law to protect the recipient.
10. Often times multiple embryos are available from a donor. If the recipient does not use all of these embryos – they can be returned to the original donor to be re-adopted out to another family in need.

- See more at: http://www.newwavemediaonline.com/2011/05/top-10-benefits-embryo-adoption/#sthash.AFtXLGOI.dpuf

Get Used to Embryo Adoption

Sarah Elizabeth Richards (TIME Magazine)

This story is remarkable on many levels. First, the embryo that became Liam is believed to be one of the oldest ever that was thawed after being frozen for so long. His siblings who were conceived at the same time are now college age. Second, the way Liam came into this world is part of a growing trend of embryo donation that represents a promising solution to our national problem of hundreds

 of thousands of leftover IVF embryos languishing in storage.

What do you do when you undergo in-vitro fertilization, conceive a child and find yourself left with extra embryos? One Oregon couple kept theirs in the freezer for 19 years after having a set of twins via IVF, in case they wanted to expand their family more someday. But, year after year, they didn’t move forward and instead paid their annual storage bill of several hundred dollars. Finally, they decided to give their four remaining embryos to Kelly Burke, 45, a single woman from Virginia. Two were thawed and transferred to Burke’s uterus, and she’s now a mom to smiley 9-month-old Liam James.

Today: Family Talk Radio Broadcast

The very first embryo adoptive family, the Strege's, tell how the very first "Snowflake Baby" came to be on the Family Talk radio broadcast with Dr. James Dobson. Tune in to hear how the journey of embryo adoption began and how it has progressed in 16 short years.

CLICK HERE to listen to today's broadcast ONLINE.

Another (previously aired) broadcast on Embryo Adoption can be found HERE.

Embryo Adoption Broadcast to Air Tomorrow

The very first embryo adoptive family, the Strege family, will appear TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 22nd on the Family Talk radio broadcast with Dr. James Dobson. Tune in to hear how the journey of embryo adoption began.

CLICK HERE to listen to the broadcast ONLINE.

The Disgrace of Infertility

By: Nate Pyle
Originally posted on his blog: http://natepyle.com/the-disgrace-of-infertility/

This Christmas I preached through the Christmas story as told by Luke. For all the times I’ve read the story, I’ve never noticed this small line hidden in the middle of the Christmas narrative. But this year was different. This year, that small, innocent line refused to go unnoticed and forced me to see it.

After Elizabeth became pregnant with John, she praised God saying, “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

We know that disgrace. My wife knows that disgrace. I know that disgrace.

Infertility.

No, it isn’t the same type of disgrace that Elizabeth experienced. In that day, an inability to bear children was equated with sin. It was assumed that the reason for barrenness was your own doing. You must have done something. You must have something to repent of. Some sin you committed. Some reason God was withholding his blessing from you.

You.

You created the problem by your disobedience, and now God is punishing you.

Thankfully, the shame of disapproving eyes and rumored gossip doesn’t surround infertility in America anymore. But shame still exists.

Embryo Adoption on 'The Katie Show'

"The Katie Show" recently featured a special segment focusing on embryo donation and adoption. Two stories of embryo adoption were shared including Dan and Kelli Gassman and their 9-month old son Trevor.  Guests also included Dr. Robin Poe-Zeigler, their Reproductive Endocrinologist, and Kimberly Tyson, Marketing and Program Director for the Embryo Adoption Awareness Center. Please click here to see the full broadcast.

A Snowflake Is Born - Zoe's Story

Zoe Annadelle Johnson was born on November 9, 2012, but her life began 3 years before that. Zoe was one of six embryos created on May 8, 2009 through the use of In-vitro fertilization (IVF). When she was 5 days old she was frozen. God had big plans for these tiny, unique, pre-born “snowflake” babies.

Embryos #1 and #2 were chosen to be transferred to their biological mother. Both embryos implanted and nine months later they were blessed with the births of a son and a daughter. With their family of four completed, their attention quickly shifted to the fate of the four frozen embryos waiting for their chance to be born.

Zoe’s biological parents were presented with the standard options for her future as a “extra” embryo: destroy them, donate them to scientific research (which would then destroy them), anonymously donate them to an infertile couple, or find a family to adopt and carry them to term. Reflecting on their belief that life begins at fertilization, they quickly realized that destroying them or donating them to research would terminate the precious life that had been created. The fate of the remaining embryos weighed heavily on their minds and hearts for two years until they connected online with Charis & Duffy Johnson in the fall of 2011.

About 170,000 IVF Embryo Deaths Per Year in the U.S.

NEW YORK, November 22, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study in the current issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility, the official journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, boasts that artificial fertility techniques have become more effective over the years.  The author of the study, Dr. James P. Toner, of the Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine in Woodstock, Georgia, writes that the rate of births per IVF attempt at pregnancy has increased from 10% to 30% from 1985 to 1999.  However, a look at the government statistics Toner used in his analysis reveal that approximately 170,000 human embryos created in 1999 (when the practice became more effective according to Toner’s analysis) died in the process of attempting to conceive a child viain vitro fertilization.

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that in 1999, some 21,501 children were born using assisted reproductive techniques (ART).  In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) accounts for 73.5% of the ART methods.  In order to achieve the 21,501 births, 86,822 ART cycles were reported wherein on average 3 embryos are transferred per cycle.

See the Reuters coverage of the study:  http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021120/hl_nm/reproduction_success_dc_2   See the CDC stats on the 1999 ART report:  http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/drh/ART99/section1.htm

Frozen Embryos: Biotech's Hidden Dilemma PART 3 of 3

Ron Stoddart, director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a nonprofit that facilitates Christian adoption, David Cook, a Wheaton College bioethics expert, and Ellen Painter Dollar, the author of a forthcoming book about Christian perspectives on reproductive and genetic technology, weigh in on what should be done with frozen embryos left over atfertility clinics.

First, Help Couples

Christians need much better resources for ethical and theological reflection.

by: Ellen Painter Dollar

Our oldest daughter inherited from me a disabling bone disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). When she was 2 years old and living through a harrowing cycle of broken bones, we underwent pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in an attempt to have a second child who would not have OI.

PGD is in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with the added step of genetic screening. Only one of four embryos tested negative for OI and was implanted, but I did not get pregnant. (We eventuallyconceived both our second and third children naturally; neither of them inherited OI.) We had the other three embryos destroyed. We made that decision with little reflection, in the emotional muddle of caring for a broken toddler while undergoing a strenuous procedure loaded with tough questions.

Frozen Embryos: Biotech's Hidden Dilemma PART 2 of 3

Ron Stoddart, director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a nonprofit that facilitates Christian adoption, David Cook, a Wheaton College bioethics expert, and Ellen Painter Dollar, the author of a forthcoming book about Christian perspectives on reproductive and genetic technology, weigh in on what should be done with frozen embryos left over at fertility clinics.

Take Responsibility for Embryos

There are no ideal scenarios, but we must work for a solution.

by: David Cook

Before we can set significant guidelines regarding the fate of unused, frozen human embryos, we must ask: Who is responsible for them? Since embryos cannot make decisions, who gets to decide whether they will be donated, adopted, or destroyed?

Parents decide for their children, and families decide what will happen to an unconscious or dying family member.

Good fertility clinics will have clear protocols protecting the rights of parents and donors. The embryos in question were created to help the childless, so adopting or donating fulfills the same goal for the benefit of the child and the childless.

But parents are not the only ones who need to take responsibility.

Frozen Embryos: Biotech's Hidden Dilemma PART 1 of 3

Part One by: Ron Stoddart
Originally posted by Christianity Today, July 28, 2010

Ron Stoddart, director of Nightlight Christian adoptions, a nonprofit that facilitates Christian adoption, David Cook, a Wheaton College bioethics expert, and Ellen Painter Dollar, the author of a forthcoming book about Christian perspectives on reproductive and genetic technology, weigh in on what should be done with frozen embryos left over at fertility clinics.

When couples choose in-vitro fertilization to create embryos to help build their families, the unused embryos are frozen for future attempts at pregnancy. Most couples are unprepared for what to do with remaining embryos once their family is complete. There are over 500,000 embryos currently frozen in storage at American clinics.

Although together these embryos occupy a space the size of a 12mm cube—the size of a board game die—they represent the population of a city the size of Atlanta. Size is subject to perspective. We all look mighty small from the moon. But to God, we are wondrously made and valuable at every stage of development.

“The Disposition Decision” — What to Do With the Embryos?

by: Albert Mohler

For most Americans, the moral status of the human embryo is a question that seems quite remote. Even as hundreds of thousands of “excess” human embryos are now stored in American fertility clinics and laboratories, to most Americans these frozen embryos are out of sight and out of mind. Thus, one of the most important moral challenges of our day remains largely off the screen of our national discourse. The issue cannot remain out of sight or out of mind for long.

Indeed, for hundreds of thousands of couples (and in many cases, just individuals) this crucial moral question grows more difficult to ignore by the day. For those whose progeny are now frozen in fertility clinics, the “disposition decision” will eventually have to be made. The decision about the eventual disposition of these human embryos will reveal what these couples truly believe about human dignity and the sanctity of human life. On the larger landscape, the pattern of these decisions and the policies adopted by medical practitioners will reveal the soul of our culture as well.

Writing in The New Atlantis, Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill contributes an essay on this issue that is both informative and haunting. She begins with an anecdote that establishes the moral sense of urgency we face on this issue:

Noah Markham was born in January 2007 to worldwide media notice. Like his Biblical namesake, this Noah had been saved from a flood. He had been one in a barrel of frozen embryos transported in a flat-bottomed boat from a flooded east New Orleans hospital in the days after Hurricane Katrina by the Louisiana State Police and Illinois Conservation Police. Interviewed at the time of Noah’s birth, his mother, Rebekah Markham, said that she and her husband Glen were uncertain about whether they would use their remaining three frozen embryos to add to their family of Noah and his big brother Witt. Interviewed again on the occasion of Noah’s first birthday, she said, “How can I not? I’m happy with two, but how can you not when you know what the possibility is? We almost lost Noah. I don’t want to lose the others voluntarily.”

FREE Online Embryo Adoption Matching

Find your embryos online for free at www.NRFA.org.

The National Registry for Adoption  (or NRFA) is an online matching service that allows embryo adoptive families connect with embryo donors. It is an affordable and expedient way to make embryo"Adoption Simplified".

Currently, NRFA is allowing participants to try out their website for 6 months with coupon code: FAMILY316 (families waiting for embryos) or DONATEFREE (families with embryos). Apply the code at checkout on www.NRFA.org to the 6 month package.

Credit: The National Registry for Adoption

Embryo Adoption Video Contest

There's a GREAT video contest featuring stories of embryo adoption being showcased on facebook from April 15-30th.

Check out and VOTE for Charis & Duffy's video here:

Photo: PixelPerfectPhotoBlog.com

Telestration Tuesday - Chapter 6: Give Birth to Your Adopted Child

Credit: Embryo Adoption Awareness Center

Telestration Tuesday - Chapter 5: Embryo Adoption Pros & Cons

Telestration Tuesday - Chapter 4: The Process of Embryo Adoption

Credit: Embryo Adoption Awareness Center