What if we finally decide not to use the embryos we had frozen?

The law in Spain foresees four possible fates for these frozen embryos:

a) Being used by patients themselves.

b) Being donated to other couples for reproductive purposes.

c) Being donated for research purposes.

d) Stop being preserved without any other use, once the patient has reached the end of her fertile phase in her early 50s.

Couples have to renew their decision every two years about what they want to do with their embryos. If they do not want them for their own use, they may choose one of the other options. If patients are not reached after two attempts to contact them over a period of five years, the embryos will be considered to have been abandoned and they will become the property of the clinic.