Re: NEWS: Embryo "adoption" program gives hope to infertile couples

=D0=B2=D0=BE=D1=81=D0=BA=D1=80=D0=B5=D1=81=D0=B5=D0=BD=D1=8C=D0=B5, 26 =D0=
=B4=D0=B5=D0=BA=D0=B0=D0=B1=D1=80=D1=8F 2004 =D0=B3. =D0=B2 20:58:35 UTC+2,=
 Marley Greiner:
> I really don't know where to begin on this one.
> Marley
> http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article=
.jsp?article=3D2498579
> Embryo 'adoption' program gives hope to infertile couples
> Controversial 'frozen orphanage' becoming a more viable answer
> By Angela Woodall
> CORRESPONDENT
> Inside Bay Area
> "Jonah, Jonah, Jonah," his mother says, smiling gently and sighing=20
> lightly. Jonah doesn't want to eat.
> A peanut butter sandwich and a hot dog don't tempt him. He finally=20
> accepts a bowl of Chex cereal. He settles down in his highchair and watch=
es=20
> an episode of Barney as his mother feeds him.
> Jonah's pretty much like any 2-year-old. He gets tired and hungry and=20
> cranky. He likes Play-Doh, and his blanky is balled up in his bed. But Jo=
nah=20
> David Vest is not like any 2-year-old. In fact, biologically he is not ev=
en=20
> 2. Biologically he is 6 years old.
> Jonah - or the embryo that became Jonah - was frozen six years ago in=20
> liquid nitrogen at minus-196 degrees centigrade.
> Soon Jonah's sister will be born and will be biologically older than=20
> her big brother. His mother, Cara, is six months pregnant with Jonah's=20
> genetic sister, who was frozen nine years ago.
> Although he does not know it yet, the technology that preserved Jonah=20
> is tangled up in a raging moral and political debate over when life begin=
s.=20
> It is a debate fundamental to the controversy about stem-cell research,=
=20
> abortion and fertility clinics.
> Embryo adoption, an increasingly visible option for what becomes of=20
> frozen embryos - and the way a four-celled embryo in a frozen orphanage=
=20
> became part of the Vest family - is also being pulled into the fray.
> The procedure, called cryopreservation, has a science fiction=20
> quality - thawing deep frozen embryos years later and implanting them in =
a=20
> woman's womb. But Cara never saw it that way. In the end she was a mother=
, a=20
> role she had hoped for since she was a little girl. She longed to be=20
> pregnant, wear maternity clothes, breast feed and experience everything=
=20
> about becoming a mom, the 36-year-old recalls.
> You might expect a little boy who was frozen for six years to look or=20
> behave differently than other children. He doesn't. Today the golden-hair=
ed=20
> toddler insists on carrying his bucket of Play-Doh with him into the livi=
ng=20
> room. "Jonah, bring the Play-Doh back in here," his mother says. The way =
she=20
> says his name is almost a sentence. But she lets it go when he says the=
=20
> bucket is his purse, "like mommy's." She asks instead, "Is it heavy like=
=20
> mommy's purse?"
> Jonah is the answer to her prayers. The Vests tried to have a baby=20
> until Cara's husband Gregg was diagnosed with a sperm disorder. Then Cara=
=20
> was told she had the "ovaries of a 40-year-old." They considered using a=
=20
> donated egg or adopting a child until on her way home from work in 1999 C=
ara=20
> heard about an embryo adoption agency.
> She was listening to Focus on the Family, a Christian radio show. She=20
> called the agency, Snowflakes, when she got home. Two years later she and=
=20
> Gregg had adopted 23 embryos.
> Saying the Vests are religious doesn't do justice to the depth of=20
> their faith. They drive 45 minutes every Sunday to their Methodist church=
 in=20
> an Odyssey minivan that has a metal fish emblem symbolizing Christianity =
on=20
> the back.
> The small silver cross she wears swings forward when she leans over=20
> Jonah to feed him lunch. The Vests' conversation is sprinkled with mentio=
ns=20
> of "God's will" and "Thank God," although they aren't like the stereotypi=
cal=20
> Bible Belt Evangelicals livening up talk shows across America.
> As deep as their faith is in God is their belief that life begins at=20
> conception, so adopting 23 embryos meant being the parents of 23 children=
.=20
> Never mind only two-thirds would survive thawing, and even fewer would=20
> develop into babies.
> At least these embryos would have the chance at life God had given=20
> them instead of being disposed of or used in stem cell research.
> Snowflakes pairs infertile couples - and the occasional single woman=20
> (gay couples are not encouraged to apply) - with embryos left over from i=
n=20
> vitro fertilization procedures.
> From the start, embryo adoption programs developed from the belief an=20
> embryo is already a human being, needing only a womb to help it grow up.=
=20
> Acting on this conviction, the Snowflakes embryo adoption program began i=
n=20
> 1997 as an extension of Nightlight Christian Adoptions based in Fullerton=
.
> The United States doesn't have a firm policy for the disposal of=20
> frozen embryos. There is no limit to how long they can stay frozen before=
=20
> they are destroyed. In England, by contrast, frozen embryos are destroyed=
=20
> after five years. England is a "civilized, rational and modern country an=
d=20
> here they were destroying embryos," Snowflakes Director Lori Haze says.
> The British policy troubled Nightlight's executive director, Ron=20
> Stoddart. Stoddart worried that as IVF became more common in the United=
=20
> States, there would be more and more frozen embryos and it could happen h=
ere=20
> too.
> To forestall what he saw as a tragedy, he founded Snowflakes, applying=20
> the policies of traditional adoption to frozen embryos. Snowflakes is the=
=20
> first agency in the United States to apply adoption practices to frozen=
=20
> embryos stored in U.S. fertility clinics. But, with its departure from=20
> traditional adoption, it kicked up a little dust.
> Calling it adoption is controversial, Haze says.
> "Our detractors don't like the fact that we're attributing human=20
> status to the embryos."
> But she denied it was an attempt to attack abortion rights.
> "First and foremost it's about the best interest of any resulting=20
> children."
> Cara sees it as a cure to infertility, which she likens to a disease.=20
> Also, unlike traditional adoption or surrogacy, parents adopting embryos=
=20
> don't have to worry about birth parents changing their minds afterward, o=
r=20
> about how the birth mother is taking care of herself and the baby she is=
=20
> carrying that one day will be theirs.
> It's also considerably less expensive at less than $10,000 after=20
> factoring in all the costs, including having the embryos shipped by Feder=
al=20
> Express. In contrast, IVF can cost up to $100,000 for two children, and=
=20
> fewer insurance companies are willing to cover the procedure than 10 year=
s=20
> ago.
> But embryo adoption is not a practical solution, says Arthur L.=20
> Caplan, chairman of the Department of Medical Ethics and director of the=
=20
> Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
> Caplan agrees embryo adoption is a good theoretical solution for what=20
> to do with frozen embryos. The idea has become ideological because the=20
> agency is "deceiving people" in the attempt to define them as alive by=20
> making it seem like all frozen embryos can one day be children, he says.=
=20
> That way, no embryos could be used for research. Even if there were enoug=
h=20
> families who want to adopt all the embryos now frozen, "They must underst=
and=20
> not all the embryos turn into babies," Caplan says. "Organizations like=
=20
> Snowflakes are saying the embryos are morally equivalent. I believe, and =
the=20
> data shows, that they are not biologically equivalent."
> With the lack of clear guidelines about when life begins and what to=20
> do with the 100,000 to 400,000 embryos frozen in U.S. fertility clinics,=
=20
> their moral status has become a political issue.
> As a result, embryo adoption has gotten attention from some Republican=20
> lawmakers on Capitol Hill because it adheres to a "culture of life," as=
=20
> President Bush has called it.
> Since 2002, Congress has allocated $2 million to raise public=20
> awareness of embryo adoption. And, although the president did not mention=
 it=20
> by name, on Aug. 9, 2001, when he announced he was limiting federal fundi=
ng=20
> to embryos created before that day, he said, "Like a snowflake, each of=
=20
> these embryos is unique, with the unique genetic potential of an individu=
al=20
> human being."
> In September, the Vests and other Snowflake families assembled on=20
> Capitol Hill and at the White House to call attention to the option of=20
> embryo adoption.
>=20
> Angela Woodall is a freelance Washington, D.C. journalist She can be=20
> reached at awwoodall@com
> cast.net.
> Courtney Atnip, whose son Carter was adopted as an embryo through=20
> Snowflakes, said they had not expected such a warm welcome and offers of=
=20
> support.
> The California resident says now they have to tackle Proposition 71, a=20
> $3 billion bond California voters approved Nov. 2 that funds a stem cell=
=20
> research center, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, an=20
> effort supported by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
> With that move and a House attempt (H.R. 4682) to repeal the Bush=20
> administration policy on embryonic stem cell research, the controversy ov=
er=20
> when life begins is not likely to let up soon. Embryo adoption supporters=
 go=20
> to great lengths for publicity because they want people to think twice wh=
en=20
> stem cell supporters say embryos used for research would otherwise be=20
> destroyed.
> In reality, what to do with them is not quite so clear, at least=20
> according to a Politics and the Life Sciences study Caplan co-authored. O=
f=20
> the more than 200 IVF clinics surveyed, most create extra embryos during =
IVF=20
> procedures.
> However, achieving consensus about what to do with excess embryos is=20
> "seemingly impossible," because the spectrum of beliefs Americans have ab=
out=20
> whether they are an actual human being or merely a cluster of cells, the=
=20
> authors say. Most clinics were willing to keep the embryos indefinitely o=
r=20
> destroy them, but relied on the couple's consent in either case. A tiny=
=20
> fraction of the clinics hold a ceremony and pray for the embryos before=
=20
> disposing of them.
> Cara sees better chances of getting support for embryo adoption with=20
> Bush's reelection because he "believes in life-affirming programs." The=
=20
> issue came up in the second presidential debate with Sen. John Kerry, who=
=20
> favored funding embryonic stem cell research.
> Bush did not say he opposed the research, but replied he had balanced=20
> science and ethics by giving funding for research on stem cells existing=
=20
> before August 2001. "To destroy life to save life is one of the real ethi=
cal=20
> dilemmas that we face," he said.
> Jonah was in Washington, D.C., with other Snowflake babies in=20
> September. It was a long way from the day he was a four-celled embryo=20
> suspended in an icy home. It had been a long journey for Cara Vest, too.
> Four years ago when she and Gregg were desperate for their own child,=20
> Susanne and Bob Gray were trying to figure out what to do with 23 embryos=
=20
> left over from the IVF Susanne had undergone while trying to get pregnant=
.
> They were told 23 embryos could produce four to six children. "I was=20
> changing my 2-year-old's diapers while taking my 4-year-old to school,"=
=20
> Susanne says. She knew the four children she already had was the limit.
> Susanne found Snowflakes while trying to arrange for an adoption of=20
> her frozen offspring. The agency put the couples in touch. Two years late=
r=20
> Jonah was born.
> Sitting in her dining room in Virginia on a November afternoon Cara=20
> says her goal is to be a crusader for frozen embryos. With the=20
> responsibility she has assumed comes pressure. When she miscarried the fi=
rst=20
> baby and it was diagnosed with Down syndrome, Cara worried it would cast =
the=20
> Snowflakes program in a bad light.
> Then there is also the pressure of being an adoptive parent, of=20
> wanting to do what is best for her child. It does not creep into her=20
> parenting to make her more indulgent of a child who is in many ways a=20
> technological and personal miracle, she says, but she hopes the Grays wou=
ld=20
> approve of her parenting decisions.
> For Cara, a lot rests on birthing another healthy baby. "The goal of=20
> getting this baby here safely rests on my shoulders."
> In the meantime, Cara is mulling over names for the baby. It looks=20
> like a girl in the sonogram images. Jonah and his sister are not the only=
=20
> Snowflake babies. But the next four years of the Bush administration may=
=20
> determine how many there will be in the future.

There are a number of potential problems with embryo adoption. First, it is=
 unclear whether or not the child will be genetically related to the parent=
s. Second, there is a risk that the child will have health problems due to =
the fact that they were not conceived naturally. Finally, there is a possib=
ility that the child will have psychological issues due to the fact that th=
ey were not wanted by their biological parents.
The above reaction is quite common when people first learn about embryo ado=
ption. Unfortunately, doctors in EmbryoSolution often focus on ensuring suc=
cess of IVF and IUI methods, embryo adoption is low on their priority list =
before all other options are explored. Traditional adoption agencies focus =
on placing children who have already been born. Thus, few organizations exi=
st that can provide a personal and intimate view on the family-building jou=
rney and educate prospective parents on all family-building options.