EPISODE 286: Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos

Join Bill Walton’s conversation with filmmaker Jason Pearson, whose documentary “Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos” confronts an unsettling truth: 1.6 million human embryos lie frozen in American fertility clinics, each representing a potential life suspended between existence and oblivion.

This is not abstract philosophy. Pearson knows the weight of these decisions firsthand – he and his wife faced them while building their family through IVF. Now, he turns his lens on four families grappling with the same moral maze. Their stories cut through the scientific jargon to expose the human heart of this modern dilemma.

The numbers are clear: 1.6 million frozen embryos equals the population of Philadelphia, all waiting in steel tanks at near-absolute zero. But beneath the statistics lies a solution few discuss: embryo adoption. Here, Pearson’s camera finds hope – families choosing to give these suspended lives a chance at birth.

In our wide-ranging discussion, we strip away the medical terminology and political noise to examine the bare truth: every frozen embryo forces us to confront what we believe about human life itself. Through intimate portraits of real families – including one facing the prospect of passing on a genetic brain malformation – Pearson shows us how ordinary people navigate these extraordinary choices.

His film isn’t just about about medical procedures. It’s about how we face the unintended consequences of our own progress, and whether we can find humane answers to the questions our technology creates.