Embryo Adoption leads to births in Ireland and Worldwide

The luck of the Irish carries over in many ways including unexpected areas like embryo adoption.

A recent article by Fiona Dillon, appearing on the Herald.ie website, explains that 22 babies born to Irish couples recently came from embryo adoption. The article reports the Irish couples became pregnant undergoing the services of an embryo adoption program at a fertility clinic in Barcelona, Spain. The most impressive part of the trend: The success rate of the Irish families. Of the 26 couples attempting to achieve pregnancy through embryo adoptions, an astounding 81 percent became pregnant and gave birth.

The influx of families attempting embryo adoption wasn't contained to the Emerald Isle though, as families from 28 other countries around the world worked with the Spanish clinic, combining for 550 births since 2004. Included in that number were 62 babies born to British families.

According to the clinic’s website, the term embryo adoption is used because “The difference lies within the legal situation. For the donation programme the embryos come from couples who explicitly and in writing cede their embryos to other couples.”

Embryo Adoption isn't contained to Europe though. In fact, the process originated in the United States in 1997 with the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption program. To date, there are 7 embryo adoption agencies around the country.

To learn more about embryo donation and adoption visit www.EmbryoAdoption.org.

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