frozen embryo
Ice-stored future life
A frozen embryo is a human embryo preserved through cryopreservation, typically created during in vitro fertilization when more embryos are produced than immediately implanted.
Frozen embryos can remain viable for years and be thawed for later pregnancy attempts.
They occupy a contested legal and ethical space—sometimes treated as property, sometimes as potential life: The divorce settlement included disputes over their frozen embryos.
- cryopreservationLow-temperature biological preservation
- IVFLaboratory-aided conception method
- test tube babyChild conceived outside womb
- blastocystEarly developmental stage before implantation
- fertilityCapacity for reproduction
biological clock · thaw · liquid nitrogen · implantation · surrogate · vitrification · zygote · family planning · clinic · storage · fertility clinic · conception · petri dish · donor egg · reproductive · transfer · uterus · offspring
- frozen thingsice cube, ice cubes, ice block, ice blocks, icicle
- dormancyhibernation, dormancy, torpor, diapause, estivation