"We felt maybe this was the embryo that was going to close the deal for science," Angela Casella, a Pilates instructor, says of the embryo. "Maybe she didn't grow up to be a scientist or a doctor or anything you would want for your child. But maybe she would still do some good for the world."
Other couples who want to donate to science find that researchers are not nearby, that their infertility clinic isn't associated with a research program and thus can't facilitate donations, or that their state prohibits research on embryos.
"There are tremendous obstacles to being able to donate to research," Collins says. "The research community hasn't caught up with the desire of many patients to contribute."
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Infertility patients may support embryo use in research, but much of the nation appears to be more conflicted.
No federal funding is available for embryonic stem cell research, and only eight states -- including California -- fund such research within their borders. Last year, Bush vetoed a bill that would have allowed federal funding for new stem cell lines derived from fertility clinic embryos.
In a survey of 1,003 adults in the U.S. published in the spring issue of the New Atlantis, about half the respondents said destroying embryos is unethical because they're humans, but 41% -- some of the very same people -- said it was ethical to destroy human embryos in the course of research if the research can help people.
"People are not quite sure where this set of issues belongs," says Yuval Levin, bioethics director for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, an ecumenical think tank in Washington that publishes the New Atlantis. "To some it's an element of the abortion debate. For other people it has to do with science and medicine. We've never really thought through what the moral status of the embryo is."
That's beginning to happen. The proposed Colorado amendment states, "The term 'person' or 'persons' shall include any human from the time of fertilization." If it is passed, the courts would have to interpret the meaning of those words, says Kristi Burton, sponsor of the initiative and founder of Colorado for Equal Rights, which focuses on the rights of unborn children. The goal of the amendment, says Burton, a college student, "is to respect and protect all life."
Fertility advocates are skeptical that "personhood laws" wouldn't limit their choices for reproductive healthcare. In August, Resolve released a statement opposing the Colorado amendment.
