But a California agency, Snowflakes Embryo Adoption, specializes in formal adoption proceedings for fertilized eggs. The program, run by Nightlight Christian Adoptions, claims to be the country's only embryo adoption agency. Nine babies had been born as of last fall. Snowflakes conducts a home study and screens recipients for criminal history and child abuse, just as with a typical adoption, according to the company Web site. Donor couples are able to select the family to whom they will donate their embryos.
Couples also pay their own medical expenses for embryo transfer.
Some religiously based fertilty counselors, such as John Van Regenmorter of the Michigan-based Stepping Stones Ministry for Infertility Support, caution couples to avoid having to make such painful decision. Many people of faith simply refuse to freeze their embryos. Those couples will never have to confront the question of whether to donate or destroy their embryos, he said. For many couples, deciding what to do with extra embryos can be anguishing. Yet some doctors note that freezing embryos can have the unexpected benefit of helping other infertile couples become parents.