Snowflake children is a term used by organizations that promote the adoption of frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertilization (IVF) to describe children that result. The embryos are donated by families who have cryopreserved embryos remaining from their IVF treatment that they don't plan to use themselves. The ownership of the embryos is transferred from the donor to the recipient using the best practices of adoption. It is called '' embryo adoption'', although the legal process of taking ownership of an embryo differs from that of traditional adoption. According to a

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

article dated July 28, 2005, the term "Snowflake baby" was coined by the first agency to provide the adoption service,

Nightlight Christian Adoptions Nightlight Christian Adoptions is a national, non-profit, Hague-accredited, pro-life licensed adoption agency that counsels pregnant women and arranges adoptions. They have locations in ten U.S. states and arrange adoptions both domestically and i ...

. Their embryo adoption program is called the Snowflakes® Embryo Adoption Program and over 950 babies have been born from this program. Many other organizations use the term 'snowflake baby' to refer to children born from donated embryos, however, the term Snowflakes® is a registered trademark of Nightlight when it relates to embryo adoption. While the term "Snowflake babies" has been used to describe babies born in this manner, the first snowflake children are no longer babies. According to

, the first snowflake baby was born in 1998. Former US president George W. Bush has made public appearances together with snowflake children while speaking about his support for

adult stem cell Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells, found throughout the body after development, that multiply by cell division to replenish dying cells and regenerate damaged tissues. Also known as somatic stem cells (from Greek σωματικóς, ...

research and his opposition to the destruction of human embryos for the purpose of embryonic stem cell research. In his book '' Decision Points'', Bush allowed certain social factions to request and receive Federal funding for

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

, the manufacturing of human life artificially. He wrote,

Criticism of the term

Members of the

, the Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign, and

Embryos Alive Adoption Agency An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm c ...

use the term "snowflake baby" as a synonym for any baby born from an adopted embryo. However, that use of the term and the related term "embryo adoption," are at times controversial in some circles.

References

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External links

Nightlight Christian Adoptions Snowflakes Program

Embryo Adoption Awareness Campaign

Embryo Adoption Agency
Fertility medicine In vitro fertilisation Adoption Anti-abortion movement