[ABANDONED EMBRYOS OR SURPLUS FERTILIZED OOCYTES--SEEKING THE SOLUTION FOR A FROZEN BURNING PROBLEM]

Israel is a world leader in the utilization rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF). During many IVF cycles, spare fertilized oocytes are cryopreserved. Today, thousands of fertilized oocytes, cryopreserved long ago, are stored in Israeli IVF units. The effort to contact the individuals who own the fertilized oocytes, so that they will approve thawing or finance continued storage, have mostly fAed. In this article we discuss the moral status of the fertilized oocyte and the ethical principles which should govern the way in which we deal with abandoned embryos. We present the different accounts for moral status and the diverse opinions regarding the status of the fertilized oocyte. At the end of the discussion we state our position regarding the ethical way to deal with the abandoned fertilized oocytes.