'Snowflake Babies': Over a Million Embryos Created from IVF Can Be Adopted from 'Frozen Orphanages'

Lorie Johnson

03-05-2025

"Frozen Orphanages" is the term often used to describe the cold storage units scattered across the United States containing about 1.6 million unborn babies. Many people don't realize that when couples conceive children using in vitro fertilization, or IVF, any unused embryos are often frozen indefinitely. However, a new documentary called "Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos" raises awareness about their existence and also highlights the fact that they can be adopted and born.

Four Real-Life Stories

The documentary features four couples. One couple, Ali and Derek, now have a beautiful three-year-old daughter who, as an unborn person, an embryo, was frozen for ten years. The couple was able to adopt her and implant her into Ali's uterus. Nine months later she was born.

"I had no idea that people had embryos that people were knowingly putting up for adoption for couples like us to use," Ali recalled.

Thirteen years ago, Ali and Derek's daughter was conceived along with a dozen others when a different couple, Tara and Travis, went through in vitro fertilization. Tara and Travis ended up implanting three of those embryos in Tara's uterus and as a result, she gave birth to the couple's three children. However, due to health problems, the couple was unable to implant their remaining embryos. At that point, they weren't sure what to do with them.

"The way we felt, we wanted to give them a chance at life," Tara said, "because they could be sitting there in a freezer, or you could give them the potential to have a life."

Tara and Travis decided to put their remaining embryos up for adoption. "It was hard to let go," Travis said.

Tara added, "It took us three-and-a-half years to fill out the paperwork, because I would start it and I was just like, 'I can't do this.'"

Tara and Travis chose to give their frozen embryos to Ali and Derek.

Like many couples who adopt, Ali and Derek made it clear they didn't want any contact with the biological parents once the adoption was complete.

"We were very open about, 'We do not wish to have a relationship with the placing family,'" Ali said.

Derek added, "Yeah, we were for the closed adoption."

God had a different plan.

Tara and Travis asked if they could pray with Ali and Derek over FaceTime the night before the transfer. Ali and Derek agreed.

"And when we opened our little rectangle phone," Ali said, "it was the parents and all three kids sitting there."

She said that moment changed everything.

"We prayed together, and we cried together, and from that moment, the FaceTime turned into a group chat, and the group chat turned into family vacations. And we tell people we're probably the exception not the rule, but we tell people we did not just adopt the embryos, but we adopted their whole family and extended family."

"Snowflake Baby" Awareness

Scientists say embryos conceived through IVF can be frozen for up to 100 years and still be born. So far, the longest has been about 20 years.

Frozen embryos who are adopted, implanted, and born, are often called "snowflake babies." More couples are doing this, but it's still rare. Even though 1.6 million unborn babies remain in cold storage in the U.S. alone, only a few thousand are adopted each year.

Jason Pearson, the producer of Spares, told CBN News he hopes his film will help to increase the number of embryo adoptions. "Before I started this project, I just prayed, 'Lord, this is your story. Bring me some people to tell your story.' Well, He provided these four amazing couples."

Pearson said the film can speak to many other couples.

"One out of seven couples go through some infertility," he said. "This is an incredibly painful thing, and everybody is looking for options, and options that honor the Lord."

Couples who choose to have children using IVF sometimes feel surprised when they discover its unintended consequences.

"My wife and I, when we went through this years ago," Pearson said, "we were going to church in New York City and met with Tim Keller, our pastor, and we asked him, 'What are the moral implications of this?' And he said, 'You guys are the first people to ask me this question.'"

Usually, IVF involves extracting up to 30 eggs from the woman, placing them in a petri dish, then fertilizing them with the man's sperm with the goal of creating as many embryos as possible.

Recent Decisions

For those who believe life begins at conception, embryos conceived during IVF are children. In fact, last year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that's exactly what they are.

Gabbie, who gave birth from frozen embryos she and her husband Sam adopted, said IVF needs to be taken very seriously.

"These doctors, and the people who decide to pursue it, have to take it so seriously. And I think sometimes they just create, and create, and create, without any thought to what's going to happen to the rest of them that don't get used," she said.

During the IVF process, after the embryos are created, they are then tested.

"They actually rank them, and they determine which ones are viable and which ones are not viable," Pearson said. "In our case, we had 14. And the doctors came to us and said, 'We believe seven them are viable and seven of them are not viable.' And that leads to some huge questions as well. And you say, 'OK, are they really not viable? What is this process?'"

Generally, embryos that would grow to be children with special needs are considered not viable. Caleb and Paige, another couple featured in the documentary, are among those who disagree with the idea that children with special needs should be downgraded or denied life.

"To even have this idea of eradicating a type of person because you don't view them as 'enough' to me is a form of evil," Paige said.

Concern about the treatment of human embryos conceived through IVF is one of the reasons the Southern Baptist Convention voted last year to oppose the procedure.

"I would really hope that as the fallout of this happens," Gabbie said, "there would be more embryo adoptions, especially among Christians, who even might agree with the SBC that IVF is not the path that Christians should take, but then, OK these babies still exist. It's still happening. Let's be part of the solution."

As the controversy surrounding IVF increases, some faith leaders say it can be a good choice for couples who want their own biological children as long as it's done within certain boundaries. That usually involves creating a lot fewer embryos and using every one of them.

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