A baby boy in Ohio has made history as the “world’s oldest baby,” born from an embryo that was frozen more than 30 years ago in 1994.
MIT Technology Review reports that Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born on July 26 in Ohio to parents Lindsey and Tim Pierce. What makes Thaddeus extraordinary is that he was born from an embryo that had been cryopreserved for over three decades.
The embryo was originally created in 1994 when Linda Archerd, now 62, and her then-husband underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to overcome fertility issues. The process resulted in four embryos, one of which was implanted in Archerd and led to the birth of a daughter, now 30 years old with a child of her own. The remaining embryos were frozen for potential future use.
Following her divorce, Archerd was granted custody of the embryos. She learned about embryo “adoption,” a process that allows donors and recipients to mutually agree on who receives the embryos. Archerd expressed a preference for a white, Christian married couple to adopt her embryo, which led her to the Pierces.
“We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records,” Lindsey Pierce told the MIT Technology Review. “We just wanted to have a baby.”
Despite a challenging birth, both mother and baby are now doing well. Lindsey described Thaddeus as a remarkably calm baby, and the couple is in awe of their precious newborn.
Archerd noted the striking resemblance between Thaddeus and her own daughter as a baby. “The first thing that I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures is how much he looks like my daughter when she was a baby,” she said. “I pulled out my baby book and compared them side by side, and there is no doubt that they are siblings.”
The embryo transfer was conducted at a fertility clinic run by reproductive endocrinologist John Gordon, who is working to reduce the number of embryos in storage. Gordon’s clinic operates under guiding principles derived from his Reformed Presbyterian faith, which holds that every embryo deserves a chance at life and should be given the opportunity to be brought into this world by loving parents.
Read more at MIT Technology Review here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
