New York Daily News visited with Inga Wismer, a New Jersey mother who had children, but hoped for more. After a heartbreaking miscarriage and finding that she and her husband both carried a mutation for cystic fibrosis, the couple decided to adopt. Two years later, because of attachment and bonding issues, they made the difficult choice to disrupt the adoption. The children were legally adopted by another family and now are in a permanent, loving, secure home.
With all the baggage of trying to add to their family and meeting with failure, the Wismers decided to try adoption one more time. But this time, it would be a less tradition adoption. Having explored and studied about embryo adoption, the couple knew this was a good choice for them. Because she believes that life begins at conception, Ingra Wismer is thrilled to be offering life to this adopted embryo and is expected to deliver in the summer of 2015.
CBS News found Stephanie and Ben Hawkins who also made the choice to participate in embryo adoption. In 2009, little Annika was delivered. Annika’s birth mother and her husband were able to select the couple to adopt their embryos after donating to a Hawaii-based embryo adoption center. There were three embryos left after Gina Yasuda successfully underwent IVF. All three survived the thawing and were donated to and implanted in Stephanie Hawkins. Sadly, two did not survive the transfer, but the Hawkins family are thrilled that Annika grew to term and is now a healthy little girl.
Embryo adoption costs just a fraction of traditional adoption and has a fairly high success rate. In order to be eligible for embryo adoption, the adoptive mother must undergo testing to make sure she can have a healthy pregnancy and the adoptive couple is expected to receive counseling to help with the emotional side of embryonic adoption.
