After IVF, most people have more frozen embryos than they need. If your family is complete or your plans have changed, you generally have four options: keep them in storage, donate them to another person or couple, donate them to research, or have them disposed of. Each option carries different costs, legal steps, and emotional weight, and there’s no universal “right” answer.
Continued Storage
The simplest short-term choice is to do nothing and keep paying storage fees while you decide. Annual embryo storage costs vary widely by clinic, but expect to pay roughly $500 to $2,500 per year. The University of Michigan, for example, charges $2,500 annually for embryo storage as of 2024-2025. Some third-party storage facilities charge less than fertility clinics, so shopping around is an option if your clinic allows transfers.
There’s no biological deadline pushing you. Embryos frozen in liquid nitrogen remain viable for decades. But the financial and emotional cost of indefinite storage adds up, and many people find that putting off the decision becomes its own source of stress. Clinics also have limits on how long they’ll store embryos if you stop paying or become unreachable. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine notes that programs “cannot reasonably be expected to continue to provide such services when patients cannot be contacted and do not continue to pay storage fees.” If embryos are classified as unclaimed, the clinic may eventually dispose of them, though only after documented attempts to reach you.
Donating to Another Person or Couple
Embryo donation gives your remaining embryos to someone else who wants to become a parent. For the recipient, the process looks like a frozen embryo transfer: the embryo is thawed and placed in the recipient’s uterus (or a gestational carrier’s). CDC data puts the average live birth rate from frozen donor embryo transfers at around 43%, though some clinics report rates of 65 to 70%.
You can donate through your fertility clinic’s donation program, through a dedicated embryo donation organization like the National Embryo Donation Center, or through a private match you arrange yourself. Some programs are anonymous, meaning you’ll never know who receives your embryos or any children born from them. Others allow varying degrees of openness, from exchanging medical histories to maintaining ongoing contact.
Donation vs. “Adoption”
You’ll sometimes see the term “embryo adoption” used by faith-based agencies. It’s worth understanding the distinction. The ASRM considers embryo donation a medical procedure, not a legal adoption. Adoption is a state-regulated process designed for children who have already been born, involving home studies, judicial oversight, and cooling-off periods where birth parents can change their mind. None of that framework fits embryo donation, where the decision is finalized before any pregnancy begins.
Some agencies that use the adoption model do require home studies and court proceedings for recipients, which adds cost and time. The ASRM’s ethics committee has stated that imposing this framework on infertile patients seeking medical assistance “is not ethically justifiable.” That said, some donors prefer the adoption model because it feels more thorough or aligns with their beliefs. Both paths are legal, but they differ significantly in process, cost, and philosophy.
Donating to Research
If you’re comfortable with it, donating embryos to science contributes to work that ranges from improving IVF techniques to advancing stem cell research. Researchers at Stanford, for instance, used donated embryos to develop imaging tools that can predict whether an embryo will reach a viable stage with over 93% accuracy. That kind of breakthrough, which directly helps future IVF patients, would not have been possible without donated embryos.
Research donations also contribute to understanding early human development and exploring regenerative medicine. Not every clinic has a research partnership, though, so this option may require transferring your embryos to an institution that does. You’ll sign detailed consent forms specifying what types of research are permitted. Embryos used in research are never implanted in a person or developed beyond very early stages.
One practical note: availability of this option has shifted in recent years as some states have introduced restrictions on embryo research. Your clinic can tell you what’s currently possible in your state.
Disposal
Choosing to discard your embryos is a legitimate, common option. The process is straightforward: the lab removes the embryos from liquid nitrogen, allows them to warm to room temperature without any attempt to maintain viability, and discards them as medical waste. There is no culture period and no transfer. Most clinics require you to sign a consent form, and some ask both partners (if applicable) to sign separately.
For some people, this is the most practical choice. For others, it feels too abrupt. If that’s where you land, there’s a middle path worth knowing about.
Compassionate Transfer
A compassionate transfer is when a doctor transfers embryos into your body at a time or in a way where pregnancy is not expected to occur, such as during a non-fertile point in your menstrual cycle. The ASRM describes it as reflecting “a physician’s benevolent empathy in facilitating a patient’s desired method of embryo disposition.” It allows you to feel that the embryos were returned to your body rather than discarded in a lab.
Not all clinics offer this, and it does involve the physical process of an embryo transfer (with associated costs and minor discomfort). Your doctor will make clear that there is no expectation of pregnancy. If this option resonates with you, ask your clinic whether they have a policy for it.
The Emotional and Ethical Dimensions
What makes this decision hard isn’t usually the logistics. It’s the meaning people attach to their embryos. You may see them as potential children, as biological material, as something in between, or as all of these things at different moments. Couples sometimes disagree with each other. People sometimes disagree with themselves over time.
Religious traditions vary widely on the question. In Judaism, personhood is generally conferred at birth, and embryo disposal is permissible. Islamic teaching ties moral status to ensoulment, which different sects place at either 40 or 120 days of development; disposal before that point is generally accepted. Catholic teaching considers embryos to have full moral status from fertilization, which is why some Catholic-affiliated agencies promote the adoption model. None of these positions need to be yours. Many people arrive at their decision through a mix of personal values, practical constraints, and gut feeling.
If you’re stuck, a counselor who specializes in reproductive issues can help. Most fertility clinics have one on staff or can refer you. There’s no deadline, and it’s completely normal for this decision to take months or even years. The only thing worth avoiding is letting the decision make itself through inaction and unpaid storage bills, because clinics do eventually have to act on unclaimed embryos, and you deserve to be the one who chooses.