Vol , Issue Date of Publication: December 04, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2025.091

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The plight of orphaned or abandoned embryos

Sowbarnika Arunkumar
Puvithra Thanikachalam
Radha Pandiyan
Pandiyan Natrajan
Eli Adashi
Abstract:

Excess embryo generation in assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles is a common practice due to the inherent uncertainties at various stages of the procedure. The remaining embryos, after the transfer of one or two, are cryopreserved. However, ethical, legal, financial, religious and emotional issues arise when these stored embryos are left unclaimed for various reasons. ART clinics then face significant challenges, despite the availability of embryo disposition methods. Judicious minimal ovarian stimulation and detailed counselling with explicit written consent, prior to the initiation of cycles, becomes crucial to prevent this crisis.


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©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2025: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0),
which permits only non-commercial and non-modified sharing in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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