Wrong Embryos Transferred – A Sad and Heartrending Story
Imagine thinking that you’re having your own embryos transferred during an IVF treatment. This is also your last chance at being pregnant, for health reasons. Then, imagine getting a phone call saying you’re pregnant -- but not with your embryos. They are someone else’s. Your options are either to terminate the pregnancy, or carry the baby to term, and hand over the baby to the rightful biological parents after the birth.
You’d hope this wouldn’t, and couldn’t, happen, but it does happen. The Today Show interviewed a couple who is experiencing the imagined scenario above. For religious reasons, they choose not to abort the baby, but to carry the child to term.
The biological parents are obvious thrilled that they choose to not abort the baby, but for the couple now pregnant, they face the future delivery and the requirement to hand over the baby to the parents after the birth.
When I saw the video interview online, at MSNBC.com, I cried. So I warn you, you may get teary watching.
I just cannot imagine having to make a choice like this. Being on either side of a situation like this must be frightening and upsetting.
I keep asking myself if something like this did happen, what would I do? I can’t imagine aborting the baby, especially since the baby wasn’t really “mine”. On the other hand, the idea of bonding and carrying the baby for nine months, only to hand the baby over at the end... Just, wow.
This is not the first time a mistake like this was made. In other stories, couples have chosen the other path -- aborting the baby. This must be extremely hard on the biological parents, but I can’t fault the couple who was given the wrong embryos either. They didn’t choose to carry another couple’s child, and while the embryo may not be theirs, it is their body that carries that child.
What would you do, if God forbid, you were put in a situation like this? Would you abort the baby? Carry the baby to term? Share your thoughts below; I’d love to hear from you.
Comments
I would carry the baby to term and give it to it’s rightful parents. Unfortunately, no one asked for the situation but they all have to live with it. The couple whose embryo was transferred to the now pregnant woman should be allowed to have their baby. I would be challenged to understand why anyone would abort the baby because of a clinic’s error. Then again, I am on my 3rd gestational surrogacy so the idea of carrying someone else’s child is familiar to me.
Bottom line is the whole situation is sad and I respect the Savage family for making the decision that they did. They postponed their own dream so that someone else could have theirs. Most people don’t do that these days.
I see this unfortunate situation as an unintentional surrogacy. I feel for the woman who no longer has the opportunity to carry her own baby, and learned only part way into the pregnancy that the baby she did carry was not her own. But as a gestational surrogate, I hope she will come to understand and appreciate as we surrogates do that the baby has no biological connection to her and so it will feel right to deliver the baby over to its biological parents. Because of the embryo confusion I can understand that she may have bonded or connected more deeply to the baby in the beginning then in a planned gestational surrogacy, but I hope she is able to make that shift and perhaps even see the beauty in the exchange. I am so sorry that she can now no longer try to carry her own baby with her remaining embryos, but on a positive note I believe when a surrogate carries her baby she will have a true understanding of that gift.
Wow never heard of anything tragic like this before. I really feel sorry about the whole situation.
I doubt if the person would want to undergo another embryo transfer after this. But hey look at the positive side. They may not be your genetics, but you had it inside yourself for 9 months, so it’s like your own genetics! Hardly any difference, so just forget they were somebody else’s and bring them up as your own.
If anybody reading this is interested to avoid embryo transfer/IVF this guide called Pregnancy Miracle
Apparently it has got many ‘infertile’ women pregnant even when they were as old as 44 years. I’m not saying it works, but definitely an option you can try. I mean what have you got to lose?
Sounds at least better than this situation of mixing up embryos!
I would carry the baby and give it to its biological parents. After trying to conceive for over a year without luck, I realize the difficulty women have trying to get pregnant. It would be hard to spend the pregnancy with a baby that was not mine, but I would never want to deny a mother of her child.
I would carry the baby to term. I could not abort a child which is God’s creation. It would be hard I admit but with Gods help we have to do what is right.
As destroying human life is just clearly wrong, abortion is definitely not an option. It is disappointing that another option wasn’t offered: the couple carrying the baby should have the option to keep the baby as their own — call it an adoption of sorts (with the biological parents permission, of course).
I really respect and admire the Savage family for making the decision that they did. I also really feel for them, as they now are having to look for a surogate now to complete their own family.
If I was the couple whose embryo was transferred to the now pregnant Savage family, as a thank you for carrying my baby to term, I would offer to carry their baby. I feel this would make a difficult situation better. Both families would then be giving the most amazing and beautiful gift to eachother.