Indefinite cryostorage is the cryopreservation of an embryo continued over years or decades without an active transfer plan.
In Spain, in 2023, more than 60,000 embryos were reported as “abandoned” — embryos whose biological parents neither maintain contact nor have decided about their further disposition. Comparable figures come from the United States, the United Kingdom (HFEA 2020: roughly 1.2 million stored embryos, increasing by about 100,000 per year), and other countries.
Ontological classification
- is a subclass of: Cryopreservation
Personal-ontological classification
This represents a particular form of oblivion of the person: the person is held in a state of suspension, without their development continuing. They are not dead, not given up, not accepted — they are forgotten.
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) (2021): Fertility treatment 2019: trends and figures (data basis 2019; embryo storage inventory). hfea.gov.uk.
- Sociedad Española de Fertilidad (SEF), Registro Nacional de Actividad — Registro SEF; reported by Instituto Bernabeu (2023): More than 60,000 frozen embryos in Spain reported as “abandoned” (60,005 of 668,082).
- Lyerly, A. D. et al. (2010): Fertility patients’ views about frozen embryo disposition: results of a multi-institutional U.S. survey. Fertility and Sterility 93(2): 499—509.
- Cattapan, A. & Baylis, F. (2015): Frozen in perpetuity: ‘abandoned embryos’ in Canada. Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online 1(2): 104—112.
- Hammarberg, K. & Tinney, L. (2006): Deciding the fate of supernumerary frozen embryos: a survey of couples’ decisions and the factors influencing their choice. Fertility and Sterility 86(1): 86—91.
- Practice Committee of ASRM (2021): Disposition of unclaimed embryos. Fertility and Sterility 116(1): 48—53.