I have wanted to go back and do a quick overview of my Embryo Adoption training, but never seem to find the time. I have a few minutes, so I thought I would give it a shot. WOW!!! That was the overwhelming feeling and thought I left the training with. Between my own life experiences and my work in adoption, I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the "adoption world" and a good grasp on how things work. This new world of Embryo stuff is AMAZING!!!! There are so many layers to this, but I will try! The reality is, there are NO laws about embryo adoption...YET!!! It is considered contract law, like selling a plot of land. That scares me for people in the future! I think it is a political nightmare. At the same time, if politicians choose to make laws about this, they will be forced to acknowledge that abortion is killing a life, which seems an unlikely occurance. I guess only time will tell! What happens is this (much shorter version of what it could be)...a family struggles with infertility and eventually decides to do In-Vitro-Fertilization (IVF). In the process, they will almost always freeze more embryos than they can ever use. Later, after they have completed their family, they are left with an ethical dilemma of what to do with their frozen embryos. Some people "discard" them, some will donate them to research (which is getting no federal money at this time, meaning there isn't much happening because the results have been less than promising), some will allow the embryos to sit in the frozen state indefinitely, others will choose to donate the embryos to a family struggling with infertility who are unable to create their own embryos. I hope you're still following me!!! This is where we come in. We have adoptive couples who could medically carry a pregnancy to term, but are unable to conceive or have successful IVF of their own who want to adopt embryos. Technology is amazing! This allows adoptive families to experience the full joy of pregnancy and birth, while actually adopting their child. How we explain this to the kids later in life is an entirely different story! It is a very new concept...Bethany is one of three agencies participating in it right now. It brings up a lot of ethical questions and much confusion for most until there is a lot of time spent grasping the concept! If you are interested, feel free to look at www.bethany.org or www.cedaeducation.org. Rochester is one of a few Bethany branches chosen to embark on the new journey. 10 Bethany sites have been selected for the pilot program across the country. It's exciting, confusing, scary, promising, risky...all at once!!! I am so glad that God gives us technology. There are so many families impacted by infertility and this is one more great option to consider! I love to talk adoption if people have more questions!!!
12 years ago
