Many American women who have successfully followed fertility treatments aren't contended with the common options they have regarding the disposal of embryos left over from treatment.

Patients with unused embryos created with their own eggs may opt for destroying them, giving them away to another couple who struggles to have a baby or donate them for research. According to a survey of more than 1,020 fertility patients at nine clinics, many people are sitting on a fence and pay for their embryos to be stored in clinics around the United States. They lie there frozen for more than a decade, despite the fact that their parents’ plan doesn’t include having more children.

“If you look at the policy debate and the discussion in the literature, there is a presumption that if you respect or care about an embryo, you would want it to become a child,” said lead author Anne Lyerly, a Duke University ob-gyn and bioethics researcher.

Researchers said about half of women who have finished fertility treatments don’t accept the idea of donating unused embryos to another couple who will bring up their offspring. Only about two-thirds of the respondents said they were likely to use their extra embryos, revealed the survey, which appeared on Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Most women said they may donate the embryos for research. Four out of 10 participants who declared they didn’t want another baby admitted that they would be “very likely” to donate their leftover embryos for research. And an estimated 15 percent among those who reported wanting a baby said they'd be “very likely” to donate leftover embryos for the same purpose.