A California court has ordered the destruction of embryos created for a woman with her then husbands sperm when she was facing loss of fertility due to chemo therapy. However, the embryos became the center of controversy when the woman divorced and her ex-husband requested the embryos be destroyed under the agreement the couple signed concerning their use after a seperation. The court stated that the consent form was valid and, as a result, there was nothing that could be done to allow the use of the embryos even though they were the women’s last chance to procreate. In recent years, several cases along these lines have been decided with most of them reaching a similar conclusion. In the event a client is considering the preservation of fertilized eggs, make sure they understand the consequences divorce may have on the use of the embryos and check to see if they want a clause to allow for post separation use.
See Azeen Ghorayshi, A Judge Just Ruled That This Woman’s Frozen Embryos Must Be “Thawed And Discarded”, Buzzfeed, November 21, 2015.
