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Children not Told of Embryo Adoption Origins: Parents Suffer from Confusing Language

BERLIN, June 29, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study has shown that parents who adopt an embryo for implantation do not tell the child of his true origins in most cases. Many methods of artificial procreation are available at most IVF facilities, one of which is to have an embryo implanted that is no genetic relation to the client. A study has shown that such parents are more reluctant to admit to these adopted-as-embryo children their origins. Researchers at City University, London interviewed 21 families who had adopted their children as embryos and found that most of them felt that to reveal the child's origins would be too upsetting.

This information came as a surprise since it is common, and considered healthy, for other adoptive parents to tell the child when he is considered old enough to understand. Fiona MacCallum, a research psychologist at the Family and Child Psychology Centre, City University, London, UK, said: "The most common reasons for not telling the child about their method of creation were fears that it would upset the child or damage family relationships. There was also a feeling that, since the mother carried and gave birth to the child, she was the real mother and so there was no need to tell the child anything different."

Advertising literature for IVF facilities often stress the notion that the child is being "conceived" when it is more accurate to say that he is being implanted. Since the 1960's the scientific community has undertaken a campaign to muddy the language used in describing fertility-related issues. Advocates of embryo adoption have fought against this problem. Dr. MacCallum showed the personal conflicts this kind of fuzzy language can cause. She said, "Embryo donation parents obtained significantly higher scores on measures of emotional over-involvement and defensive responding than did the adoptive or IVF parents."

In related news, the meeting of fertility experts in Berlin has heard from a team of Swiss doctors who have had success in implanting single embryos. Apart from the psychological problems involved in embryo implantation, there can be physical risks when more than one embryo is implanted at once. It is common practice for IVF doctors to create far more embryos than are wanted by parents. Now Dr Ann Thurin, of Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden, has presented research that showed single embryo transfer (SET) is just as successful as multiple transfer.

Related coverage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3847061.stm
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5542320§ion=news

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