Couples dreaming of the opportunity to become parents may experience difficulty in conceiving a child naturally. These couples often turn to alternative methods, such as in vitro fertilization, to help make that dream come true.
In vitro fertilization can be a pricey and time-consuming process – especially if you are faced with purchasing human eggs to create embryos. There are a limited number of women willing to sell their eggs. And on top of that, there are high standards that egg donors must meet to be deemed acceptable by egg donor agencies. Women with excellent school grade point averages, college entrance exam scores, and athleticism can be compensated up to $40,000 for their eggs. Even before a couples knows that a donor is going to be able to produce enough eggs for a successful in vitro fertilization process, much of their money is already spent.
If a family has unlimited time and resources in vitro fertilization may be a worthwhile option, though many couples simply don’t have access to unlimited financial resources. A better alternative for those couples is embryo adoption. More than 600,000 embryos are currently in frozen storage across the U.S., and many of them have been donated for adoption by a couple that has already been through the process of in vitro fertilization. The donors have completed their family – they want to give another couple the opportunity to become parents, and their remaining embryos the chance at life.
The process of adopting an embryo is often more affordable than in vitro fertilization. Embryos are not bought and sold – instead they go through an adoption process similar to the one offered here at Nightlight. The costs involved with an embryo adoption usually involve an agency fee and the costs of the home study and medical procedure. Learn more about the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program.