The case of the errant embryo

 This is a "rerun" of an earlier post, but the story is important - and devastatingly true.

As our world becomes more complex and our technology becomes more sophisticated, we face increasingly thorny ethical dilemmas. One of the most disquieting I’ve heard of is that of Carolyn and Sean Savage.

The couple had two sons (now 12 and 14 years old) and wanted a third child. After a series of miscarriages, they decided to go forward with in vitro fertilization. The procedure was successful; they now had an 18-month-old daughter.

Then things got more complicated.

There were still 5 cryopreserved embryos. Carolyn and Sean believe that these embryos constitute life; they do not believe in discarding them. Carolyn said, “We felt strongly that we needed to give every embryo that we created a chance at life.”

Their physician told them that they could possibly hope for one embryo to be viable after the “transfer”, and they went forward with the procedure. Complicating matters still further, at some point along the way they realized that, because of health issues of her own, this would be Carolyn’s last pregnancy.

Not long after the embryo transfer, Sean received a call from their physician. He was told that Carolyn was pregnant, but that a mistake had been made: the wrong embryos had been implanted. Sean was faced with the responsibility of breaking this news to his wife.

The couple met with the doctor, who told them that there were two options to choose from: (1) they could terminate the pregnancy, or (2) they could take the pregnancy to term, but if they did so, they would have to give the child to the biological parents.

Sean and Carolyn’s religious faith is important to them, and their beliefs made the thought of abortion untenable. They decided to go forward with the pregnancy, knowing full well that they would be unable to keep the child.

14 weeks into the pregnancy, the Savages had their attorney contact the child’s biological parents. Ultimately, the two couples met face-to-face, and the biological parents will attend the birth of their son, which will be via Caesarean section.

“It’s been hard,” Carolyn said when interviewed for the TODAY show. “We’ve been rooting for the baby the whole time. We moved from a position of shock to a realization that this was actually going to happen. We needed to put the needs of the pregnancy and the child first. It’s just been difficult, but we feel we made the right decisions on how to handle it.”

But though the pregnancy has been difficult, the Savages recognize that the delivery will be even more difficult. They’ve asked the biological parents to give them the opportunity to say “hello” and “goodbye” to the child; after that, they don’t know if they will have another opportunity to see the child or to learn how he is doing.

Meanwhile, there are still 5 cryopreserved embryos at the fertility clinic, and as Carolyn is unable to safely become pregnant again, the Savages are currently pursuing the option of having a surrogate carry their remaining child or children to term.

If you’d like to read more about this story, go here. Also, you can view an interview with Sean and Carolyn Savage here. And please leave a comment to let me know what you think.