84 
Ethical and Policy Developments 
continuity or a biologically grounded view of developing moral 
status. Instead, or in addition, they rely upon questions of em- 
bryo-viability and potential, and they are aimed at exploring 
unique circumstances to address and perhaps resolve ques- 
tions of the moral standing of certain particular human em- 
bryos. 
1. IVF ''Spares." 
Much of the debate surrounding embryonic stem cell re- 
search has focused on the use of cryogenically preserved IVF 
embryos, left over from assisted reproduction procedures and 
stored, perhaps indefinitely, in the freezers of IVF clinics. One 
recent study suggests there are hundreds of thousands of such 
embryos in the United States alone, though only a very small 
percentage of them (less than 3 percent, approximately 3,000 
or more) has ever been donated for research.^^^ Although all 
were produced with reproductive intent and were stored for 
further reproductive efforts should the first attempt fail, most 
of these frozen embryos may never be claimed by the original 
egg and sperm donors for use in assisted reproduction proce- 
dures. They are almost certain to remain firozen and, eventu- 
ally, to die without developing further. Although there have 
been some efforts to build interest in adopting such embryos, 
such adoption, some commentators argue, is very unlikely to 
become a large-scale phenomenon or to affect the fate of most 
of these stored embryos. Under the present funding policy, if 
these frozen embryos were donated for research and embry- 
onic stem cells were derived from them, research on the result- 
ing cells would not be eligible for federal funding. Many ob- 
servers argue that it should be: Since these particular embryos 
are almost certainly destined to die without ever developing, it 
would be appropriate to at least redeem some possible good 
from their existence and unavoidable demise. 
Some people have pushed the point further. Since the vast 
majority of the (huge number of) cryopreserved embryos will 
almost certainly not be adopted, and since many may not be 
viable even if they were to be transferred to a woman’s uterus, 
a few observers have argued that, practically speaking, the 
frozen embryos are virtually all already lost.^^® To be sure, they 
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