Trump Admin Moves to Protect Frozen Embryos From Destruction 

The Trump administration revised a grant program to treat frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization as human children deserving to be born to a loving family.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs issued a notice of funding opportunity on Wednesday seeking grant recipients who will prioritize the best interests of unborn human children in the embryo adoption process. 

The Embryo Adoption and Awareness notice of funding opportunity was first created in 2002 to raise awareness of the problem of IVF creating more embryos than a couple is willing or able to parent, then freezing the embryos indefinitely. The federal embryo adoption grant program was expanded in 2008 to offer services that help facilitate embryo adoption and donation for the purpose of family formation

Currently more than 1 million embryos created through IVF are frozen in storage. IVF procedures typically create 4-6 embryos in each egg retrieval cycle but the number can be up to 20 or more, according to adoption agency Embryo Connections.

While previous administrations have prioritized the desires of adults in the embryo adoption program, the Trump-era HHS has shifted the grant opportunity toward a child-centric framework, urging recipients to consider what is in the best interest of the child, a senior HHS official told The Daily Signal. 

Embryo adoption should “serve the needs of a child already in existence, offering that child the opportunity for life within a stable and loving family,” the funding notice says. 

Trump made a campaign promise to make IVF accessible to all prospective parents, calling himself the “father of IVF,” sparking criticism from pro-lifers who say the procedure relies on the destruction of embryos.

However, the pro-life movement may warmly receive this program due to its child-first adoption framework, as well as its prohibitions on using grant funding for embryo destruction or new embryo creation. The Trump administration has made a number of moves to expand IVF, but this is the first time it is addressing the procedure’s downfalls.

Heritage Foundation family policy expert Emma Waters praised the revision for “reframing embryo adoption not as a treatment for infertility, but as an act of charity toward a child already in existence who is in need of a loving home.” 

“The uncomfortable truth is that our loose approach to IVF has left millions of human embryos in indefinite storage, many of whom are destined to be discarded,” she told The Daily Signal. 

The revised notice says that grant funds cannot be used for the “donation of human embryos to embryo-destructive research,” and that “no grant funds will be used to pay for, subsidize, promote, or otherwise support discarding or destroying human embryos.” HHS also prohibits grantees from using the funds to create “new human embryos.”

The revised grant program expects awardees to promote open and identified donation practices in order to “protect the child’s right to know their biological origins and medical history.” 

It also requires grantees to “center the rights and long-term wellbeing of the child in all program design and service delivery.” This includes the requirement that embryo adoption agencies conduct background checks, home visits, and other assessments before allowing a family to adopt an embryo. 

Waters said the NOFO gets the response to the frozen embryo crisis right by “requiring best-interest-of-the-child assessments and the same adoption-level standards we expect anywhere else, including home studies, background checks, reference checks, and post-placement supervision by a qualified caseworker.”

Neel Upadhye, founder of nonprofit Frozen Orphans, which draws attention to the embryos left behind through IVF, said the program is a “meaningful step toward ensuring families know embryo adoption is a real, viable path to parenthood.”

“We’re encouraged to see federal support for both the public education and infrastructure that makes these adoptions possible, and we hope it opens doors for the thousands of families and children who could benefit,” he told The Daily Signal.

While the Biden administration awarded grants to three secular embryo adoption agencies who match embryos with same-sex couples, the Trump administration is looking to put faith-based organizations back at the center of embryo adoption.

The revised notice says that “faith-based organizations have been integral partners in this program since its founding and have historically been among its primary grant recipients.”