Desired but abandoned: the uncertain fate of cryopreserved embryos

Abstract

Assisted reproduction, hand in hand with related sciences such as genomics and cryobiology, has vertiginously transformed the approach to fertility, not only because of scientific and technical advances, but also because of the contemporary social context. As is well known, a high percentage of women and couples who have to resort to this biotechnology and, with them, the aetiologies of infertility have diversified. The continuous progress in overcoming biological barriers and provide new therapeutic options to address infertility also raises ethical and regulatory questions and dilemmas. Among these dilemmas are the uses and purpose of cryopreserved embryos left over from assisted reproduction techniques. After more than four decades of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the concern arising from embryo cryopreservation and the incessant accumulation of embryos do not seem to have reached an end. Thus, the different options contemplated by the current regulations do not satisfy users and professionals to be able to respond to the existing situation of storage of a significant number of cryopreserved embryos in the biobanks of assisted reproduction clinics, with no defined destination.