Currently in the United States, there are over 600,000 frozen embryos in storage. That is roughly the population of Portland, Oregon currently in frozen storage. These embryos come from families who have undergone in vitro fertilization treatments, when more embryos were created than were actually used to complete their family building. Many of these embryos may be destroyed after years of cryo storage without ever getting the chance to experience the life for which they were created. A new benefit being offered by companies might actually reduce the number of embryos created!
Facebook and Apple are now paying for female employees to freeze their eggs. The tech giants are trying to recruit more women to the male-dominated field by offering them more benefits of particular interest. The thought is that egg freezing would allow women to focus on their careers longer, eliminating their worries about declining fertility after age 30. When she is ready to have her eggs thawed and fertilized, the clinic can choose to only fertilize the eggs and create the embryos necessary for that treatment cycle, thus reducing the potential for remaining embryos that need to be frozen.
Of course another option open for women who chose to delay parenthood is embryo adoption. As long as the woman has no contraindications to pregnancy, she can give a donated embryo the chance at life. If you’d like more information about educating the public about embryo donation and adoption, visit www.embryoadoption.org.
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