Frozen Embryos Come To Life 30 Years Later

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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.