On Wednesday, the Judge in the San Francisco Supreme Court passed judgement on the future of the frozen embryos of a divorced United States couple. The woman who “became sterile following cancer asked to use the frozen embryos she had produced with her ex-husband”. However, the couple had signed an agreement stating that, “the five embryos that the couple had decided to freeze prior to treatment (…) would be destroyed in the event of a divorce”. Upholding this contract, the judge refused the wife’s request.
“It is a disturbing consequence of modern biological technology that the fate of the nascent human life, which the embryos in this case represent, must be determined in a court by reference to cold legal principles”, the judge wrote.
This is not a one-off case in the United States. This decision can be expected by other couples in the same circumstances because it could set a precedent in the State of California. It could be the subject of an appeal.
AFP (18/11/2015)