In addition, infertility patients must give approval before unused embryos can be used for stem cell research.

They also wrote that society - not only owners of unused embryos - should have a say in their destruction.

About 2 percent of the estimated four hundred thousand frozen and unused embryos wind up being given to other families who desire children, while the others are being destroyed.

They allowed use of unused frozen embryos.

Provoking critics further, the new law actually directs doctors to inform couples undergoing fertility treatments about the option of donating unused embryos for stem-cell research.

Ethical and legal issues related to assisted reproductive technology, such as how many embryos to transfer to the uterus and what to do with unused embryos.

A final concern Maguire mentioned was the question of what to do with all the unused frozen embryos.

In a statement today, Dr. King said his normal procedure was to anonymously donate unused embryos.

He received an official reprimand after he started passing out Right to Life pamphlets and harassing patients about not destroying their unused embryos.

The cells are usually taken from unused fertilized embryos from fertility clinics, and cell cultures, or lines, are grown in the laboratory.