Update
In May 2010, the McLaughlins and Lamberts settled their dispute over the possession of control of embryos donated by the Lamberts to the McLaughlins. The precise terms of the settlement weren't made public. However, an attorney representing one of the couples is reported as saying the settlement honors the McLaughlin-Lambert contract as to who keeps possession of the embryos.
The attorney also said the settlement was reached in the hope that any child born from the embryos will be raised together with the McLaughlins' twins who were born in 2009 from embryos donated by Lamberts.
Original Article
For decades, adopting a child was the only option for women and couples who wanted children but couldn't have children of their own because of various medical conditions. Science and technology provides a new option, and along with it, new legal problems.
St. Louis Twins
Patrick and Jennifer McLaughlin live in St. Louis with five children they adopted. They adopted because medical conditions made it impossible for Jennifer to have children.
Last year, she learned about "embryo adoption." She and her husband later contacted Edward and Kerry Lambert, who live in California. The two couples signed a contract where the Lamberts agreed to donate four embryos they had in storage to the McLaughlins.
The McLaughlins, in return, agreed to use the embryos through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and to return the embryos if, after a year, IVF didn't work and they didn't want to use any remaining embryos.
Two embryos were implanted on the McLaughlins first IVF attempt, and they had twins. Near the end of the one-year deadline, the Lamberts' attorney sent the McLaughlins a letter essentially demanding the return of the remaining two embryos. The McLaughlins filed a lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court asking for an order keeping the Lamberts from having anything to do with the embryos.
How It Works
Up to the point of the letter and lawsuit, the McLaughlin-Lambert situation is the perfect example of how embryo adoption is supposed to work. Women like Kerry Lambert who've undergone IVF procedures and have remaining embryos - either because they've successfully had children through IVF or no longer wish to try - donate the embryos. The embryos are stored frozen at a clinic or storage facility.
The donated embryos are then made available to women and couples like the McLaughlins who, because of medical reasons, can't have children of their own naturally or through IVF. Sometimes the clinic helps in the adoption process by finding candidates to adopt the embryos. In other cases, the adoption is handled by the parents. That appears how the McLaughlin-Lambert adoption went.
Legal Issues
First, it should be understood that there really isn't an "adoption" in the normal sense of the word. State adoption laws apply only to children already born and living. Regardless of personal or religious beliefs, an embryo up for adoption isn't a person. It's simply a fertilized egg. That's why adoption laws weren't followed in the McLaughlin-Lambert transaction.