{"id":32465,"date":"2022-09-10T16:10:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/why-my-wife-and-i-chose-to-adopt-embryos\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:10:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:10:38","slug":"why-my-wife-and-i-chose-to-adopt-embryos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/why-my-wife-and-i-chose-to-adopt-embryos\/","title":{"rendered":"Why My Wife and I Chose to Adopt Embryos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Aaron Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n

Before my wife delivered our twins, they were first delivered by FedEx.<\/p>\n

In what probably made for a peculiar package, my children were shipped in a state of suspended animation\u2014frozen in liquid nitrogen that kept them alive until my wife could give birth to them four years later.<\/p>\n

While this may sound like the introduction to a science fiction novel, it\u2019s a real-life story. My wife and I chose to grow our family through a process called embryo adoption in an attempt to honor preborn life.<\/p>\n

While embryo adoption can be confusing, it\u2019s an important need facing America and other countries that use assisted reproductive technology to create life outside the womb.<\/p>\n

What is embryo adoption?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Embryo adoption is a response to a dilemma often caused by in-vitro fertilization (IVF)\u2014a reproductive procedure that combines sperm and eggs in a lab to create embryos.<\/p>\n

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During IVF, fertility clinics often create more embryos than will be transferred to a womb. This is because not all of the harvested eggs will achieve fertilization through IVF and fertility clinics want to ensure they have enough embryos to transfer.<\/p>\n

Fertility clinics may also create excess embryos in order to select ones for transfer that are deemed more likely to achieve pregnancy. This typically leaves parents who\u2019ve gone through IVF with an important ethical decision of what to do with their remaining embryos that weren\u2019t transferred.<\/p>\n

Rather than destroy these embryos or leave them frozen in development for an indefinite amount of time, some couples choose to place their embryos for adoption.<\/p>\n

Snowflake babies<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In embryo adoption, an adopting mother gives already-created embryos a chance at birth by allowing them to be thawed and transferred to her uterus. If one or more of the embryos implant, the adopting mother then carries and gives birth to the child or children although she is not genetically related to them.<\/p>\n

Some people refer to this as pre-birth adoption and call the adopted embryos snowflake babies\u2014a reference to their small size, frozen state, and unique nature.<\/p>\n

Our snowflake babies were shipped as frozen embryos from a fertility clinic in Washington State to the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we adopted them in 2011.<\/p>\n

Here are four of the most significant reasons we chose to adopt embryos.<\/p>\n

Embryo adoption is pro-life<\/strong><\/h3>\n

My wife and I use the words embryo and child interchangeable because we subscribe to the worldview that life begins at fertilization.<\/p>\n

This view is shared by Christian organizations and groups who have written about the need for couples to adopt frozen embryos, such as Focus on the Family, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, The Gospel Coalition, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n

Russell Moore, president of the ERLC and a supporter of embryo adoption, says children frozen in cryogenic containers already exist as persons created in the image of God.<\/p>\n

While the U.S. government doesn\u2019t recognize these embryos as children, Christians can honor their personhood by offering them the hospitality of a womb and a place in a family.<\/p>\n

Embryo adoption is needed<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In an article from 2014, CNN reported a low-end estimate that hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos already exist in the United States. Of these, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports as many as 60,000 embryos could be made available for adoption.<\/p>\n

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An awareness of these figures can lead to:<\/p>\n