Redeeming creation one byte at a time
Embryo Adoption
One of the first issues that we’re going to be dealing with is embryonic adoption.
There are a couple of existing resources out there, and thankfully, they are from a Christian perspective.
Several organizations got together to answer the question of what should happen with the embryos that are left over after a couple had achieved their family goals. They could be donated to research, discarded or donated to other couples looking to use embryos they themselves can produce for whatever reason.
Where this really is hard to work with is how, in my mind, it complicates issues of identity, adoption and even race. What would happen is couple A decides they are done and donates their embryos to couple B who adopts them and uses couple A’s embryos for transfer to the wife of couple B. Couple B has a baby from couple A’s embryo and, genetically, the baby is adopted.
Where this really gets fuzzy for me is that it redefines ‘biological parents’; are bio parents people who gave birth to you or are they people who just simply donated their DNA. An adopted child who came into the family as an embryo has a mom who gave birth to them but yet is not their ‘Biological mom’.
Another area where it could get even greyer is that the potential is there to adopt cross-culturally an embryo should everyone agree. I think that if anything could do it, this scenerio could really fry traditional notions of race and ethnicity. What would define identity gets thrown out of the window and you can imagine the complexity of an answer when the child would be asked ‘Who gave birth to you?’
As a potential parent of an embryo that would be given up for adoption, my concerns would be that the family be a couple of similar world view (Evangelical Christian) and would raise a baby as good, if not better, than we would. But yet, I have a hard time thinking about what it would be like to have a twin of A3 knock on the door one day and say ‘Um, Hi, I’m your embryo and you’re my DNA dad.’
Like I said previously, there are multiple threads to this issue that I feel like we’re just now beginning to work through. I hope this offers a bit of a good springboard for thought for others in this situation and if anyone out there has experiences to share, I’d love to hear them.
This should definitely be up to those that no longer have a need for the embryo. It would be great if they donated it to science, but the decision needs to be theirs and theirs alone without interference from the government or a company. I could imagine the complications arising from allowing another couple to use it.
Its a very interesting topic though, and one that could make it hard for a future child, almost like an identity crisis. But to me it’s not a matter of who the biological father is, but who gave birth to the child, who raised the child, and who cared for the child. This should always outweigh the importance of anything else.
To me, as long as the parents are qualified to raise a child (I.E. they wont kill, rape, abuse, or any other horrible fill in) they are fine by my vote. I see this just as an extension of adoption.
My sister-in-law was a surrogate mother for a couple that couldn’t have a baby. Such a wonderful gift to them and yet her church was so mean to her about it that she wound up leaving. They basically called her a whore.
Got to get over our wierdness about technology – especially when it enhances family life and brings people together.
Point. Part of our wrestling with this is that we’re still dealing with real people (me/mj/potential future baby from us/potential future baby from someone else)that we want to do right by.
Sometimes it’s dark out there on the front lines of this. But, in my mind, it’s an interesting place to be. Ethics becomes less of a spectator’s sport and more of a call to ‘jump in the game’.
To Admin: Well whatever decision you make I’m sure will be the correct one for you and your family. And I wish all the best.
Couldn’t agree more. This is just an issue of being afraid of what technology can do, and really makes little sense. Too bad.