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genericdude999 OP t1_ix7yikj wrote

> When looking for donors, the Ridgeways specifically asked the donation center about a category called “special consideration,” meaning it had been hard to find recipients for these embryos, for whatever reason.

> To pick their embryos, they went through a donor database. It did not list the how long embryos have been frozen, but it listed the donors’ characteristics like ethnicity, age, height, weight, genetic and health history, education, occupation, favorite movies and music. With some files, there are photos of the parents and of their children if they have them.

> The Ridgeways assumed those listed with earlier donor numbers had been at the center the longest and tried to narrow their choice to those profiles.

> The embryos were created for an anonymous married couple using in-vitro fertilization. The husband was in his early 50s, and they used a 34-year-old egg donor.

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FuturologyBot t1_ix81chg wrote

The following submission statement was provided by /u/genericdude999:


> When looking for donors, the Ridgeways specifically asked the donation center about a category called “special consideration,” meaning it had been hard to find recipients for these embryos, for whatever reason.

> To pick their embryos, they went through a donor database. It did not list the how long embryos have been frozen, but it listed the donors’ characteristics like ethnicity, age, height, weight, genetic and health history, education, occupation, favorite movies and music. With some files, there are photos of the parents and of their children if they have them.

> The Ridgeways assumed those listed with earlier donor numbers had been at the center the longest and tried to narrow their choice to those profiles.

> The embryos were created for an anonymous married couple using in-vitro fertilization. The husband was in his early 50s, and they used a 34-year-old egg donor.


Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/z0yng3/parents_welcome_twins_from_embryos_frozen_30/ix7yikj/

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BigFitMama t1_ix85rp5 wrote

More reason to bank your reproductive materials at a younger age. You could save future humanity or just give a nice couple a baby.

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genericdude999 OP t1_ix86xlf wrote

My poor son or daughter, born on an embyro ship and doomed to live out their life in the steaming sulfur caves of Trappist-1d.

On a positive note, they brought a bunch of iPhone 1000s with them, so the social media scene on the ship is lit!

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LordKeeper t1_ix8b38e wrote

Were they born with a taste for grunge music and high-waisted jeans?

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RodrigoBarragan t1_ix8e2px wrote

Does this mean that at least some of the the baby parts are 30 years old?

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QuesoFresco420 t1_ix8hev0 wrote

Sounds like a win to me. So this baby isn’t going to be riddled with the genetic mutations caused by the last 30 years of their parents living on our stressful planet?

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A_Lizard_Named_Yo-Yo t1_ix8kend wrote

Damn, 30 years old, unemployed, and still living with their parents.

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josefx t1_ix8nfh0 wrote

You think so, but in reality neither Apples nor LetsEncrypt servers are reachable from Trappist-1d and all https certificates expired within months from takeoff. Future generations will forever wonder how advanced we must have been if even otherwise useless flashlights ended up that complex.

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isleepinahammock t1_ix8nytq wrote

At first, I thought "good for them." Then after reading the article, damn. Fuck everything about this.

They "adopted" the embryo from the National Embryo Donation Center. This organization cares more about bigotry than they do about their own stated mission. They want to help "unborn children" and help couples who can't conceive have kids. But that only applies if you're a straight cisgender couple. Two men can't adopt an embryo to be used with a surrogate. A cisgender man married to a transgender woman aren't welcome.

In other words, they are explicitly discriminating against some of the demographics that could most readily "adopt" the embryos they have in storage. People who could offer good and loving homes, but just happen to not be straight and cisgender.

Helping unborn children is important, but bigotry comes first.

Fuck the lot of these assholes.

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moogs_writes t1_ix8pizw wrote

They’re a Christian organization, not surprised. However, the fact they won’t involve themselves with surrogacy or people with a history of mental health issues isn’t controversial in and of itself. A trans woman can’t gestate an embryo, and these embryos are only adopted to couples who will be able to carry them themselves, and not just baby buyers who found creative uses for their wealth. Surrogacy is messy and complicated even somewhere like the us where it’s heavily regulated and only altruistic surrogacy is allowed.

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isleepinahammock t1_ix8vmmc wrote

The surrogacy argument is a red herring. They also don't let lesbian couples adopt. They explicilty discriminate against people.

And don't let them co-opt the term "Christian." They're bigots that just happen to be Christian. There are plenty of churches flying pride flags.

And while surrogacy is legally complex, so is the entire thing they're doing. They're taking embryos from one couple and gestating them in another. The whole operation has to involve lawyers with experience in fertility law. Bringing LGBT people into the mix isn't anything more complex than what they're already doing.

They're bigots, pure and simple. They claim they want to help unborn children, and maybe they do. But for them, the absolute highest priority is bigotry. Everything else is secondary.

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moogs_writes t1_ix8wkek wrote

For them, bigotry. For others, money. Baby factories are, in fact, messy and often unethical in all sorts of ways. I’m not going to pick and choose. This organization is wrong to refuse to allow gay couples to adopt on the basis of homophobia. Gay couples are wrong to exploit vulnerable women half the world over on the basis of it being cheaper to get a baby from them there.

Either way, I don’t lose sleep over people who can afford the money they give to baby factories, because it just perpetuates the problem. Gay, lesbian, white, cis or not.

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Fabulous-Ad6844 t1_ix904ez wrote

Plot twist baby ages super fast to get back on track to biological age of 30

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redosabe t1_ix92s3j wrote

I thought freezing destroys/bursts cell membranes? is this freezing done differently? or does freezing embryos not damage them?

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jedibathrobes t1_ix9671q wrote

I don’t know about you, but I’m dead tired of eating food like a human. I personally can’t wait to consume only Blended Arthropod Cubes by Tyson-Nestle-Kraft Supercorporation, now with 8% more essential nutrients and 12% more slave labor! If it’s yum yum yummy, it must be Tyson-Nestle-Kraft Supercorporation!

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tarrox1992 t1_ix97bzs wrote

It’s the speed of freezing that causes ice crystals to form that burst open cells. Single cells are a lot easier to freeze because they can be frozen slowly, which discourages ice crystal formation. Large tissues would need to be frozen quickly for theoretical hibernation/storing, because if only half your heart is frozen, then there are going to be problems. The rapid freezing is mostly what causes ice crystals and cellular damage.

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BigFitMama t1_ix97mhh wrote

I say this as a warning - I found out I couldn't get pregnant around 27 and when I did want to get pregnant it was too late. People change. Pandemics happen. Wars happen. And there is a big fad of child-free people getting sterilized early. People change their minds. I'd hate to be subject to my choices at 20 when I am 40.

We have a World Seed Bank, why not a cryo-storage of human and animal embryos as back-up somewhere near the arctic circle?

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lolsborn t1_ix9arsk wrote

As someone who has both bio and adopted children don't be this person. It's a personal decision every time fuck what anyone else has to say about your choices for your family.

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rowinit t1_ix9g8wc wrote

On the one hand, I agree in principle, on the other hand my parents are 75 now and rather than forgetting my name they’re training for a week long bike ride next summer. People age differently.

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Looseybussy t1_ix9hsyw wrote

“We thought we’d have as many as god decided to give us”

So zero. Zero babies. You used science otherwise.

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becausefrog t1_ix9lbqd wrote

These aren't even childless people with fertility issues who couldn't have their own children. They actually already had 4 kids without any scientific intervention.

Funny how their god doesn't seem to want them to adopt any of the many already born children who need families though.

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truemobius t1_ix9li7e wrote

It's the warner-pepsico-viacom franchise hoa communites have really gone down with the latest merger. The hoa used to actually provide decent food paste but with the scabs from halliburton-skynet it's just not worth it. I'm thinking of applying for citizenship to on the federated tesco-aldi-nordstrom.

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irishtim1393 t1_ix9qfaz wrote

This is astounding, don’t get me wrong, but… why, in a world with an overburdened foster care system and so many children living on the streets, why did this couple go out of their way to give birth to 2 more children that weren’t even theirs?

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greyfir1211 t1_ix9vlip wrote

I understand this sentiment, but you can’t go into being a foster parent expecting to adopt a child straight away at all, sometimes it just never happens. A lot of children in foster care need a safe place while things get sorted out with their biological families. Then the vetting of foster families is not great so it’s horrifyingly typical for these kids to be put through traumatic situations in the foster system, all while being taken from your biological family is already traumatic and life-altering.

Disenfranchised and non white parents also seem way more likely to be targeted by CPS in the USA than other families. The entire system is incredibly corrupt. All that being said i still want to be a foster parent myself one day because of personal experiences, but it is NOT for everyone, it is a huge task to undertake.

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irishtim1393 t1_ix9w3jl wrote

That’s a fair point. But with my admittedly limited understanding of this particular family, they are a white family that clearly has the resources to raise 6 children simultaneously. Why add to the number of children in the world if you have the resources to care for one that already is alive and in need? My good friend was in the foster care system, and it was horrific. I wouldn’t wish for anyone to have to go through that. It just makes me frustrated to see that they’re doing this.

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greyfir1211 t1_ix9x9fq wrote

The fertility industry is definitely its own crazy ethical mess. :( I think you and me probably have a similar outlook on this. Making friends with kids who suffered in the system completely changed my outlook on life.

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Creative_Sun_5393 t1_ixa25tz wrote

But people who have children are also subject to that choice 10, 20, 30 years down the line and not everyone is happy with their choice. No reason to single out childfree people as making a permanent decision they may not be happy with.

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Odd_Calligrapher_407 t1_ixb8q34 wrote

Funny thing is the article says they were stored in liquid nitrogen which stops all processes. Not true. Cosmic rays will penetrate and slowly degrade their dna. Sme thing happens with cell lines. These kids should be closely monitored.

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Enormoussky t1_ixbbs05 wrote

Kids gonna have Alzheimer's by the time he graduates college

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springlord t1_ixc3q5k wrote

Might however be riddled with issues tied to the natural decay of frozen DNA over 30 years. We don't have any data on such live experiments. They can - hopefully - be just fine, or suffer from yet unseen genetic diseases developing with age.

AFAIC I see no reason for a frozen piece of DNA to be healthier than one that has been naturally replicated with new material over and over, despite this occurring in a less than optimal environment.

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Tablesafety t1_ixcbpwo wrote

Wonder how the life begins at conception crowd would react to this one. Are the kids 30, or a few days?

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TheW83 t1_ixcg25m wrote

That's awesome! My mom is in her 70s and while she only rides a little, she does a ton of yoga and tai chi type of activities. I hope to be as active as she is when I'm that age.

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Spiritual-Hurry-6037 t1_ixm6lnq wrote

Does anyone find it disturbing that this couple knowingly used embryos that may be affected by ALS. One article states the biological father died from ALS. This couple stated they didn’t care if the embryos weren’t perfect which is fine but ALS is a serious diseases that causes a lot of suffering. So this couple may have brought to life two people who will suffer due to ALS. Just seems selfish and disturbing to knowingly roll the dice on something so serious.

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Spiritual-Hurry-6037 t1_ixm7kgp wrote

Hopefully the children do not develop ALS but seems terribly irresponsible on the parents part to knowingly roll the dice like this

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bigteaice t1_ixnglib wrote

Their biological father died of ALS. It's cruel to bring two children to the world with 50%chance that they will have the disease.

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PerseveringJames t1_iy074fy wrote

As someone who believes life begins at conception, I'd believe these kids are 30, but they've had their physical and mental growth stunted. Something doesn't sit well with me - keeping live human beings trapped in solitary confinement for 30+ years in a test tube, waiting to be traded to the right people who will free them from the prison they don't know they are trapped in sounds like a modern version of "12 Years A Slave".

While I would love to see these kids grow up healthy, happy, loved, with long lives, and that infertility can become a thing of the past through these technological advances, I suspect these kids will have the same problems Dolly the sheep had, and end up degenerating by 40ish due to being frozen for 30 years. Time will tell.

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