Avoiding Ethical Quandaries in Embryo Donation

When it's most successful, in vitro fertilization, or IVF, yields far more embryos than a couple could ever use (unless that couple is the offspring-obsessed Duggar family). There are frequently frozen embryos left over, and the options for what to do with them are limited: destroy them, donate them to research — or, rarely, to other couples — or continue storing them in liquid nitrogen for a fee. There is very little consistency in terms of how fertility clinics ask patients for their preference. Now a new study from Stanford University looks at one option — donating embryos to science — and makes the case that many more couples may choose to do so, if fertility centers implemented a simple no-pressure policy.

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