GEE, I wonder why that is? After all they're just bunch of cells, bla bla bla. Right?

At least 400,000 embryos are frozen at clinics around the country, with more being added every day, and many people who are done having children are finding it harder than they had ever expected to decide the fate of those embryos.

A new survey of 1,020 fertility patients at nine clinics reveals more than a little discontent with the most common options offered by the clinics. The survey, in which Ms. Best took part, is being published on Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Among patients who wanted no more children, 53 percent did not want to donate their embryos to other couples, mostly because they did not want someone else bringing up their children, or did not want their own children to worry about encountering an unknown sibling someday.

Forty-three percent did not want the embryos discarded. About 66 percent said they would be likely to donate the embryos for research, but that option was available at only four of the nine clinics in the survey. Twenty percent said they were likely to keep the embryos frozen forever.

Embryos can remain viable for a decade or more if they are frozen properly but not all of them survive when they are thawed.

Smaller numbers of patients wished for solutions that typically are not offered. Among them were holding a small ceremony during the thawing and disposal of the embryos, or having them placed in the woman’s body at a time in her cycle when she would probably not become pregnant, so that they would die naturally.

A note for those who don't know what I think about this: I'm not in favor of abortion (but not for religious reasons: I'm not a believer), yet at the same time I'm in favor of embrionic stem cell research (though unlike many others in favor, I know that adult stem cell research is capable of bringing much quicker results, and focusing on the former detracts vital resources for the latter).

Yes, there's a logic behind my position, even though I know it sounds counterintuitive; I'll explain some day when I have a bit of time.