Embryo Adoption offers a chance at life to those embryos that were kept frozen and left unassigned after In Vitro Fertilisation. These embryos come from healthy couples who no longer need them because, after their treatment, they do not want to have more children. Other people who wish to become parents and need Assisted Reproduction treatment can benefit from this programme.
In 2004, Institut Marquès decided that all the embryos legally in its custody could have a chance at life. Thus, a pioneering project was born that today is still the largest in the world. Thanks to the programme, so far, more than 2000 children have been born.
The embryos available in the Embryo Adoption Programme of Institut Marquès come from healthy couples under 35 years old, who have successfully undergone IVF treatment and have decided not to have more children. Often, they come from an egg or sperm donation.
Due to more restrictive laws in other countries compared to Spain, we receive many international patients interested in this option.
Regarding the fate of frozen embryos, Spanish Assisted Reproduction Law allows all possible options:
Many patients prefer not to make a decision about their surplus embryos and leave them in the hands of the clinic, which, according to law, becomes responsible for these embryos. In this way, they can become part of the Embryo Adoption Programme.
The Embryo Adoption Programme of Institut Marquès has also received requests from people around the world offering to donate their frozen embryos. These embryos come from countries where donation does not exist and they are evaluated by the doctors and biologists of Institut Marquès before being accepted. This is an exceptional phenomenon that Dr Borja Marquès presented at the congress of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
From a medical point of view, the process is the same. The difference between the two concepts is only legal. In the case of donation, the embryos come from patients who have expressly and in writing given them up to be donated to others. In the process of adoption, the embryos have not been expressly donated for that purpose but are under the legal custody of the clinic because the patients did not decide their fate.
In either case, the only procedure to be carried out is the signing of the informed consent for this Assisted Reproduction technique.
Rellena el formulario y nos pondremos en contacto contigo para organizar una visita con un especialista en Reproducción Asistida.
Institut Marquès, clínica LGTBI Friendly
