A baby was born on Saturday who had developed from an embryo that had been in storage for over 30 years, according to MIT Technology Review.
An Ohio couple "adopted" the embryo from a woman who had it created in 1994 with her husband at the time and kept it in cryo storage ever since.
According to MIT Technology Review, Linda Archerd, now 62, was able to create four embryos in 1994 — a time when IVF was a fairly new technology. One of those embryos went on to become her daughter, who is now 30 years old with a daughter of her own.
However, Archerd's remaining three embryos were never used and remained in storage. MIT Technology Review said Archerd couldn't bring herself to get rid of them, and didn't want to donate them anonymously.
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Archerd learned about different agencies in the U.S. that offer "adoption" services for embryos, said MIT Technology Review. Most of them are religious because they believe an embryo is morally equivalent to a born human.
Eventually, she came across a program that would match her with her religious, racial and nationality preferences for a couple to "adopt" her embryo, MIT Technology Review said.
That's where the Pierces came in. The couple, who had been struggling to conceive for many years, matched with Archerd's embryo through the program and traveled to Tennessee for the successful embryo transfer.
Archerd told MIT Technology Review she's excited to meet the newborn and already sees a resemblance.
