Donor Embryos

• Embryo donation is a process whereby a couple who undergoes in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment chooses to donate their remaining embryos. This occurs when a couple completes their family yet has remaining embryos they do not wish to discard. Their donation allows another couple to adopt the embryo to become pregnant. 
• Couples may adopt an embryo because of egg-related and/or sperm-related fertility issues. 
• We currently have over 100 available donor embryos stored in our IVF lab.  
• The couple donating their embryos relinquish all legal rights to these future children. The couple who adopts the embryo (the intended mother and father) will have all legal parentage. The intended parents will not be genetically related to the future child, however. 
• If embryo recipiency sounds right for you and your partner, please call our office at (919) 782-5911. 

Embryo recipiency is often known as “embryo adoption.” While embryo recipiency shares similarities with traditional adoption, the process allows the intended mother to become pregnant and deliver the baby. 

In this scenario, there are two sets of couples involved who do not know one another. The first couple are Carolina Conceptions patients who feel their family is complete, yet have healthy frozen embryos remaining in storage. They are the embryo donors. This couple chooses to donate their remaining frozen embryos (and their parental rights) to another Carolina Conceptions couple who has been unable to achieve their dream of parenthood. The patients receiving the donated embryo are the embryo recipients. 

All donor embryos must meet our requirements for recipiency. To be approved, all donor embryos must undergo medical screening and meet our requirements for infectious disease screening, medical history and family history.  

We recommend using donor embryos for couples who had unsuccessful IVF treatments but still want to experience the pregnancy and childbirth stages of parenthood. It can be an ideal option for couples who wish for one final treatment to achieve pregnancy. 

 Couples who do not wish to pass on specific genetic conditions will benefit from embryo recipiency. 

Single women or same-sex female couples may opt for embryo donor treatment. 

Women often consider embryo recipiency as a more financially feasible alternative to IVF treatment using donor eggs. 

Lastly, patients may receive an embryo for other reasons, such as financial savings compared to IVF treatment or traditional adoption. 

Embryo recipient waitlist & psychological appointment

After discussing the embryo recipiency process with your fertility physician, your name and your partner’s names will be placed on our waiting list for the next available frozen embryo donation. However, we are glad that our surplus of donor embryos enables us to have no waitlist in 2024.

Embryos are not available for purchase and intended parents cannot choose specific parent characteristics, such as hair and eye color, much like traditional adoption. Recipients can only request basic specifications, such as ethnicity — your physician will discuss these details with you.

While on the waitlist for the next available embryo, we recommend you schedule an appointment with a psychologist to discuss embryo recipiency. A psychologist can help you openly discuss the embryo recipiency process and consider if this is the best choice for your relationship and situation. Please contact Dr. Ryan Blazei at (919) 720-1452 to schedule your psychological appointment. This visit is designed to help you navigate the future with your child, including conversations and questions that occur as the child gets older.

Embryo donor profiles

When embryos become available, you will receive an anonymous physical profile of the donors. We only facilitate anonymous embryo donation, meaning you will not have contact with the donors, for the privacy of our patients.

Like traditional adoption, recipients of embryos often do not match donors in physical characteristics. You can choose if you wish to proceed with the available embryos or not. If you choose not to accept the donated embryos for any reason, you will move to the bottom of our embryo recipiency waiting list for a future chance at a better match.

Frozen embryo transfer

If you agree to proceed with an available donated embryo, the next steps are similar to any frozen embryo transfer cycle. The intended mother will go through various medications to prepare her uterus for embryo implantation. The frozen embryos will be thawed and transferred when her body is ready.

Embryo recipiency is considerably less expensive and less complicated than traditional adoption. Our financial coordinator team will speak with you about costs associated with embryo recipiency and the subsequent frozen embryo transfer.

As with traditional adoption, embryo recipiency requires legal consideration and work. We recommend a consultation with a reproductive law attorney to ensure you and your partner understand the legal aspects of embryo recipiency and legal parentage of future children. We suggest completing legal consultation with Jennifer Tharrington. Please call (919) 525-2854 to schedule your appointment.