According to this study (PDF File) by Rand Corporation (www.rand.org), there are nearly 400,000 embryos (fertilized eggs that have developed for six or fewer days) frozen and stored since the late 1970s..
Paulina and I have about 0.000025 times the total amount.
Couples decide what to do with those embyos and you have to sign an agreement before starting the IVF cycle. You can donate the embryos for research, donate them to others, discard them or do ‘other’ things ( I don’t know what “others” stands for). According to Rand, 2.8 % of the couples donate them for research, 2.3 % donate them to others, 2.2 % discard them and 4.5 % do other things.
So there are 9,200 embryos designated for donation for other couples. From those embryos only 65% survive the freeze-and-thaw process. And so there are 5,980 embryos ready for donation for other couples. And from those embryos, about 25% would survive the IVF cycles. And so there would be 1,495 babies. Some of them were there at the East Room of the White House while President Bush vetoed this type of research.
The White House is big enough for the 1,495 babies but not big enough for all the additional innocent lives that will be lost as a result of his decision.
Read Vetoing Henry by Laurie Stongin at the Washington Post for more.