Can leftover embryos be donated to other couples?
Yes. Parents can elect to donate unused embryos to others seeking fertility treatment, a practice sometimes called embryo adoption. But few parents choose to do so. For every embryo that is donated to others, more than 100 embryos are discarded. Currently, more than 400,000 embryos are frozen in fertility clinics, and most will eventually be discarded. At the same time, fewer than 200 children have been born through the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program since it was founded in 1997. There is no conflict between embryo adoption and stem cell research, as it is up to parents to decide whether to donate their unused embryos to others, to discard the embryos, or to donate them for medical research.
