STUDY FINDS AT LEAST 400,000 HUMAN EMBRYOS FROZEN IN UNITED STATES

SANTA MONICA, CA., May 8, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – David Hoffman of IVF Florida led researchers in a study to determine the number of human embryos stored at assisted reproductive technology (ART) clinics in the United States.  The results, published in the newly released May issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility, note that even with 90 of the 430 such clinics not reporting, there were 396,526 human embryos in storage as of April 11, 2002.  88.2% of the embryos were targeted for patient use.  Researchers also found that 2.8% or some 11,000 embryos were “available for research.” Approximately 9000 embryos were available for adoption and another 9000 scheduled to be destroyed (killed).  Commenting on the findings, Hilary White of Campaign Life Coalition Catholic said, “It is horrific that this vast number of children have been denied their right to be created in the loving union of a husband and wife. Moreover they have been put in peril by being created in a fashion in which their likelihood of even surviving till birth is less than one in ten. Hopefully, with this finding, the public has finally been made aware of the fact that artificial procreation such as in vitro fertilization is a grave offence to human dignity and must be stopped.”  See the study from the journal of Fertility and Sterility (registration required):  Fertility and Sterility Volume 79, Issue 5, May 2003, Pages 1063-1069 www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00150282