Today's Article

Frozen Embryos Come To Life 30 Years Later

냉동 배아, 30년 이후 태어나 

In April of 1992, more than 30 years ago, the world was a lot different. Bill Clinton was running for President. Phones looked like this. I was 23 years old. And at a small 1clinic, these 2embryos 3were frozen, suspended in time at nearly 200 degrees below zero, waiting 4patiently at the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. That is until just a few weeks ago, when twins Timothy and Lydia were born to Rachel and Phillip Ridgeway of Oregon.

“When we heard about embryo 5adoption, we thought that’s something we would like to do. And it’s something we think we’re able to do.”

“Adoption refers to living children, and it’s a 6judicial order, it’s a legal process by which a parent child relationship is created when it did not previously exist.”

Dr. Sigal Klipstein is a 7fertility specialist in Chicago and Chairs the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s Ethics Committee. She was not involved in the Ridgeways’ case.

“Embryo 8donation is a medical procedure. It’s a way by which we take embryos from one couple or individual and then transfer them into another individual in order to build families.”

Freezing embryos is not a new technique. In fact, the first baby born from a frozen embryo was back in 1984. But at a time when medical science has pushed the 9boundaries of life earlier and earlier, a new question has arisen, how late, is too late?

“Going into this process, we wanted to choose children that, in our eyes, were the most 10unwanted, the most needy, the ones in a lot of ways had 11been overlooked.”

Intentionally or not, the Ridgeways have set a record after 29 years and 10 months, the donated embryos are believed to be the oldest embryos ever to result in a live birth.