Third
Party Reproductive Programs, Embryo Donation- Ever Expanding
Alternatives.
 Since
1988, Huntington Reproductive Center has been in the
forefront of developing and expanding the option of
egg donation
& gestational surrogacy.
HRC presently has one of the largest and most successful
third party reproductive programs in the world.
With the ability to harvest eggs
from one woman and successfully implant the resulting
embryos into another, realistic reproductive possibilities
have opened up for couples with problems which were
previously insoluble. The introduction of third party
conception has undeniably expanded parenthood capabilities
to infertile couples. Egg
donation and Embryo Donation is useful for patients
who have undergone ovarian
failure, surgical castration or prior chemotherapy.
With Egg Donation, the father contributes genetically
and the recipient mother carries the baby, bonding with
it and experiencing the joys of pregnancy and of giving
birth.
With gestational
surrogacy, the resulting offspring is genetically
related to the couple and the use of a carrier could
spare the genetic mother from life-threatening medical
conditions that may be initiated or exaggerated by a
pregnancy. It is also effective for patients who have
undergone hysterectomy, are DES exposed or have a congenital
absence
of the uterus but whose ovaries are preserved. In
addition, patients who have had multiple
miscarriages may also benefit from using a gestational
surrogate.
Over the past several years, HRC's
Third Party Reproductive Program has continued to
expand at a rapid pace and these services are currently
being used by patients from across the United States
and around the world. "Out-of-town" patients
are monitored where they live utilizing HRC's protocols
and their cycle is synchronized with either their
donor or carrier thereby reducing costs and increasing
efficiency. This also reduces travel expenses and
minimizes the emotional toll on patients because they
spend less time away from home.
HRC is extremely focused on comprehensive
medical and psychological preconception assessment and
evaluation of all patients participating in our Third
Party Program. This includes the screening of all egg
donors and gestational
surrogates along with their sexual partners, as
well as the genetic parents and/or recipient couples.
HRC presently works closely with Ms. Shelley Smith,
MA, MFCC, Center for Surrogate Parenting, and Surrogate
Parenting Services.
These outside programs provide
an invaluable service to HRC and our patients in the
process of recruiting and matching quality egg donors
with recipient couples. In egg donation, patients
regard the matching process as being especially important
and the recipient couple is walked through this step
very carefully. Usually, a large selection of egg
donors is available. Recipients are shown childhood
and adult photographs of the donors as well as being
able to review the donor's IQ and personality test
results. Many of our patients using egg donation are
from other parts of the county where there is a scarcity
of donors and long waiting lists at the few programs
who are involved in providing these services.
Over the past 18 months, we at HRC
have noticed a marked increase in couples who previously
might have moved towards adoption but who are now pursuing
Third Party Reproduction
as a viable alternative. Many couples state that
the biological and genetic link is important to them.
Moreover, patients who undergo egg donation find comfort
in the fact that they have control over the prenatal
environment as compared to adoption.
For other couples, the primary reason
to pursue Third Party Reproduction is the scarcity of
babies available for adoption and the possibility of
and/or the occurrence of the adoptive process not working
out or of actually having the adopted baby "taken
back". One study conducted by adoption specialist
Carol Wolfe, MFCC, found that out of 250 birth mothers
who had agreed to place their child with prospective
adoptive parents, in 38% of these cases, one or the
other party withdrew from the agreement prior to or
following the birth. Other studies have shown that approximately
15% of birth mothers change their mind after the birth.
Notwithstanding the above, HRC would
like to stress that we are by no means denigrating adoption
as a viable option. For many couples who have decided
upon adoption as a means of creating their family, this
method has worked extremely well. HRC has always encouraged
its patients to research adoption as a potential alternative.
HAPPY ENDINGS
AT LAST
Egg Donation
and Gestational Surrogacy Combined:
One family story spans the globe
(Australia, England and the United States). A woman
who lives in Perth, Australia, and who had leukemia
was rendered sterile from her cancer treatments. Her
identical twin sister who lives in England agreed to
donate eggs, which are genetically identical to the
first woman's.
The second twin went to Australia,
had an egg retrieval and the eggs were fertilized with
the first woman's husband's sperm. Half the resulting
embryos were frozen and half were transferred back into
the first woman. She did not get pregnant from the transfer,
as it seemed the cancer treatment had also affected
her uterus. The couple opted to use a gestational carrier.
However, Australia presently prohibits
any form of surrogacy including gestational surrogacy.
In their quest to have their own biological child/children,
they were referred to HRC as patients. The second twin
traveled with the frozen embryos to our facility and
a successful embryo transfer was performed on their
carrier resulting in a twin pregnancy. HRC is gratified
that this couple's long odyssey finally ended in success.
Patients of HRC, Mr. & Mrs.
B, experienced long term infertility and tried various
treatments including an egg donation cycle in which
Mrs. B achieved a pregnancy but miscarried
at about eight weeks. This couple then adopted a
baby whose birth mother subsequently changed her mind
a week after the couple had taken the baby home. Mr.
& Mrs. B returned to HRC saddened by their experience
but determined to proceed forward with another egg donation
cycle. They did not achieve a pregnancy following the
fresh transfer of their embryos but did achieve a set
of triplets following a frozen embryo transfer utilizing
their remaining embryos. The motto of this couple's
tale is that perseverance and persistence do eventually
pay off!
Mr. & Mrs. F are a couple from
Melbourne, Australia who needed gestational surrogacy
because Mrs. F had severe lupus and had previously miscarried
at least six times. This couple spent a great deal of
time and effort to try and change the law in Australia
that presently prohibits any form of surrogacy. Unfortunately,
they were unsuccessful. However in their quest to have
their own biological child, they were referred to HRC
as patients. They traveled to Pasadena with Mr. F's
sister who had agreed to be their carrier. Mrs. F produced
many egg and three embryos were transferred to her sister-in-law.
Mr. & Mrs. F's carrier gave birth to a 6 lb., 8
oz. little girl who is now 4 years old. HRC is extremely
proud that Mr. & Mrs. F's long journey to our clinic
ended in success. 
Embryo Donation
and Adoption
"Like snowflakes,
each embryo is fragile,
unique and the most
beautiful of
God's creations".
HRC was approached by an adoption
agency known as Christian Adoption & Family Services
(CAFS) [who despite their name are non- partisan in
the placement of children]. This adoption agency has
established a novel concept of embryo adoption known
as their "Snowflakes" program.
Embryo adoption is a somewhat different
concept than embryo donation. With embryo adoption,
the agency actually matches the genetic parents of the
embryos with the adopting couple into whom the embryos
will be transferred. Traditionally, when couples decide
to donate their embryos to another couple, they usually
entrust the doctor to select the couple to whom the
embryos will be donated.
The "Snowflakes" embryo
adoption program was established to assist couples who
have completed their family or those who have decided
that embryo implantation is no longer in their plans,
but who both still have embryos in cryostorage. Couples
are often confronted with an extremely difficult decision
regarding the dispensation of their embryos that remain
frozen. Many couples wish to give their embryos a chance
to be born but they also want some control over their
destiny - that is where the "Snowflakes" program
comes in. Couples can have the choice of participating
in the selection of the adopting parents from among
families that have completed a home study with a licensed
adoption agency.
Although the legal framework for
embryo adoption has not yet been established in most
states, genetic and adopting parents can have the security
of knowing that they are giving embryos the same safeguards
and future opportunities as any child being placed in
a more traditional adoption.
The Clinic and the adoption
agency have recently completed our first joint effort
in the "Snowflakes" program. One couple was
from Nebraska, the other from California, the adoption
agency acted as the intermediary (home study and legal),
HRC provided the medical services and performed a frozen
embryo transfer, and thankfully the adoptive parents
are now pregnant. HRC feels honored that CAFS chose
us to participate in their first trial case of matching
genetic families and adopting families in completing
the cycle of life and building loving families with
embryo adoption.
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