'Snowflake' baby travels to the White House with Mom

Carter Anderson Atnip was especially fond of the furniture in the Blue Room. At 20 months old, he was looking to perfect his climbing technique even in the White House but resisted the temptation his mom said.

The young lobbyist and his mother, Courtney, of Temecula, enjoyed a trip to Washington D.C. as guests of President Bush last month due to Carter’s unique birth circumstances and the controversy surrounding the technological advances behind it. They enjoyed cake, ice cream and a tour of the Red and Blue rooms and the White House dining room when they traveled with an entourage other pro-embryo adoption families to bring a human perspective to lawmakers as the House legislators prepared to vote on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The Atnips and other “snowflake” baby families appeared at a White House press conference with President Bush who strongly opposes embryonic stem cell research. The children served as subtle reminders of the potential of frozen embryos produced by infertility treatments across the United States.

After a long struggle with infertility issues, the trip was another step on the path for Courtney and her husband Tim who have recently become active spokespersons to promote the adoption of frozen embryos rather than using them for research. “We were looking for options to help us build our family,” said Courtney as she recalls their research of egg donation and traditional adoption methods until different family members heard of the embryo adoption option and passed on the information.

“We checked into it and we felt that’s what we were being called to do. It’s neat because not only did we get to go through the adoption process but we also get to experience pregnancy.”

The Atnips contacted the agency, Nightlight Christian Adoptions in Fullerton and began working with Lori Maze, director of the “snowflake” frozen embryo program. Nightlight has been arranging adoptions since 1959 and the “snowflake” program was started by executive director Ronald Stoddart in 1997. Maze has been responsible for screening prospective donor and adoptive families, assisting with the matching process, coordinating the legal documents, and overseeing all of the details involved since 2001. The embryo adoption process takes anywhere from 1 year to 1 ½ years until the embryos are transferred to the family and costs anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 - substantially cheaper than traditional adoptions and fertility treatments.

“Every embryo adopting family gets at least six embryos to start their embryonic transfer, but if there are 12 embryos, for example, available from the genetic family, then the adopting family adopts all of them,” she said.

In the Atnip’s case, they selected a genetic family with 11 available embryos who went through the in vitro fertilization process and now have twin children. Three of the 11 embryos survived the thawing procedure, Courtney underwent hormone treatments to stimulate pregnancy conditions and on February 7, 2003, three embryos were implanted. Carter was the sole survivor and 7 ½ months later made an early appearance on September 15, 2003 to the delight of his family. He’s been an active, healthy child ever since, say his parents.

Approximately 400,000 frozen embryos were accounted for throughout the country according to a 2003 study released by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) with the cooperation of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) and the Rand Corporation. Maze is careful to point out that roughly 350,000 frozen embryos or about 80 percent are being stored on behalf of their genetic families for their family building needs, and disputes the common assumption that the vast numbers of embryos are going to be discarded anyways and should be used instead for medical research.

“What we’re looking at is around 2.5 percent or about 11,000 of these 400,000 that are designated for donation to medical research by their families. Another 2.3 percent are slated to be donated to other couples and the remainder are families who are unsure what to do,” Maze said. The study isn’t clear, she said, if all participants were informed of all options available for the embryos including adoption.

For the Atnips, a twist of fate united their long-held personal beliefs on the issue. “ I have always felt strongly for as long as I can remember that life begins at fertilization and that’s always been something that has been very important to me,” said Courtney, “When we adopted Carter, when we adopted this baby and unfortunately a lot of people don’t consider him as a baby at that young stage, it cemented this conviction that we have had for such a long time.”

“Of course, we’d like to convince everyone that life begins at fertilization and babies shouldn’t be researched upon but our main goal is to educate people- that embryo adoption does exist and it is an option for genetic families who have frozen embryos that they can’t parent,” she said.

Since the decision to adopt Carter, the Atnip family tree of family and extended family ties has grown tremendously. Besides visiting with Tim and Courtney’s family members living close by in the San Diego County area, and keeping in touch with other “snowflake” families by email, blogs and visits, the Atnips have traveled back East to visit Carter’s genetic family a couple times and emails communicate back and forth between the families.

“It’s been a very nice and very comfortable relationship with them,” Courtney said.

A return trip to Washington D.C. may happen in the future as the embryonic stem cell research bill winds its way to the Senate in August. The House version passed and President Bush is threatening a veto.

As a California resident whose state recently passed Proposition 71 to channel $3 billion in state funds toward embryonic stem cell research, Atnip is concerned about more tax money to be used for the purpose.

“We’re not against research and finding cures for diseases and we fully support adult stem cell research. There’s a lot of progress going on in that research but the public doesn’t hear very much about it,” she says.

“We’ve gotten a lot of publicity and with all of the people struggling with infertility and a lot of other people struggling with the decision of what to do with their frozen embryos once their family is complete, we can reach a lot of households and hopefully help people see there are a lot of options for them,” she said.

To learn more contact Nightlight Christian Adoptions (714)278-1020; http://www.nightlight.com; http://www.embryoadoption.org.