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Our Website
We are pleased to share with you our Website, full of information on our organization, options for
donors and opportunities for recipients. Please visit today and learn more about Embryo Donation International.
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| Embryo Donation Times
Issue #7 | November 2011
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November is National Adoption Month
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As we enter the holiday season, it can be a hard time for those battling infertility. Family gatherings remind them of what they don't have - at least right now. Part of this season is November - National Adoption Awareness.
 | | Adoption.com is observing Adoption Awareness Month |
As we've discussed before, some people refer to what we do as embryo adoption. It's not, and we've explained why. We understand why some feel embryo donation is akin to adoption but subtle differences remain. For embryo donors, they are providing an amazing gift and paying it forward. For the embryo recipient, they are being a gift unlike any other.
We encourage those of you considering embryo donation to get more information. If you're interested in possibly becoming a recipient, we have an embryo donor database you can review for free and you can even sign up to get notifications when new donated embryos are added. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 800-334-2184.
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Embryo Donation Disclosure Blog Series & Summary
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Embryo donors and recipients are faced with a number of life-changing
decisions as they contemplate disclosure. We recently completed our
final segment of a five-part series summarizing the
 | | Lisa Murray with her embryo donor-conceived twins. |
complex decisions surrounding the disclosure of the genetic origins of embryo donor-conceived individuals to family, friends and the offspring themselves.
"There has been a new push for universal disclosure brought forward by sperm and egg donor-conceived individuals who were eventually told of their genetic origins," stated Dr. Sweet. "Some have advocated disclosure for all donor-conceived offspring. I felt it was time to discuss the issues carefully keeping in mind that embryo donation is both similar and yet quite different from egg and sperm and donation as well as adoption itself."
Addressing the perspective of the donor, recipient and even the donor offspring, we encourage you to read it, comment on it and share it.
We were also fortunate enough to coordinate with NBC-2 to share the news of embryo donation and hope for family building with Southwest Florida. You can view the news story that aired online here.
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Mississippi Initiative 26 Vote
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Congratulations to Mississippi families on the defeat of MS Initiative 26, which would have given legal "personhood" to microscopic fertilized eggs. The law's defeat is a major victory for upholding a woman's right to safe health care and for building families through infertility treatment. Its passage would have had many dire medical and legal consequences to IVF, abortion and some forms of birth control, if three-day old, eight-celled embryos were considered persons. If you would like to review Dr. Sweet's Blog and appeal to reason regarding MS 26, click here. Opposing this initiative was not a pro-life or pro-choice issue, but the recognition that this piece of legislation was severely flawed in its construction.
 | | Parents Against MS26 did an amazing job emphasizing the concerns for the legislation. |
Thanks to Parents Against MS 26, a well-organized, grass-roots campaign led by IVF mother Atlee Breland, and a coalition of civil liberties, medical and infertility patient and professional organizations for making this achievement possible.
Unfortunately, this does not mean the end of the personhood movement and the possibility of its launching a similar initiative in Florida. But as Barbara Collura, executive director of RESOLVE, aptly said: "That's a question for another day. For today, we are just thankful for the incredible effort that succeeded in protecting infertility patients in Mississippi - and succeeded beyond our hopes."
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American Society of Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference
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 | | Dr. Sweet and Corey Burke with Kindle recipient, Carla Yelton. |
Last month Dr. Sweet and members of the EDI team traveled to Orlando for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) annual conference. Gary Harton of Reprogenetics presented important research on stopping early pregnancy loss, which Dr. Sweet was honored to collaborate on. The EDI team also connected with many new people during the trade show. We are appreciative of the time we had to discuss embryo donation, learn about others in the field and welcome new connections. If you attended, we encourage you to review our event follow-up blog where we share some of our new friends. Mr. Harton received his Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University in 1987 and is currently working on his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. He He recently joined Reprogenetics after 22 years in various roles at Genetics & IVF Institute including both laboratory and management positions. Mr. Harton manages the molecular PGD sections including single gene defect testing and array-based PGD at Reprogenetics and is an author on over 40 peer reviewed scientific articles and abstracts. He is certified by the American Board of Bioanalysis (ABB) as a Technical Supervisor, Molecular Diagnostics, and is a member of ASRM in addition to other organizations. |
| Thank you for reading Embryo Donation Times by Embryo Donation International (EDI).
Our vision is simple... - To increase the number of cryopreserved embryos donated while reducing the number of frozen embryos discarded or abandoned.
- To assist in matching donated embryos to patients in need in an ethical, fair and nondiscriminatory fashion.
- To provide the largest selection of donated embryos we can so embryo recipients can have the best choice possible.
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