San Francisco Judge Says Divorced Couple's Embryos Can Be Discarded
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- A woman must abide by an agreement with her ex-husband to destroy five frozen embryos if they got a divorce, a San Francisco judge ruled Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo said in a tentative decision that the agreement trumps the woman's desire to now keep the embryos. The woman, Mimi Lee, had argued that the embryos represent her last chance to have children after cancer made it risky for her to get pregnant.
Her ex-husband, Stephen Findley, wanted to discard the embryos in accordance with the agreement he and Lee signed while married.
Download Embryo Ruling (.pdf) Part 1 | Part 2
Massullo said California law is clear that couples must decide what to do with embryos they create in case of separation or divorce.
"Decisions about family and children often are difficult, and can be wrenching when they become disputes," the judge wrote. "The policy best suited to ensuring that these disputes are resolved in a clear-eyed manner ... is to give effect to the intentions of the parties at the time of the decision at issue."
The judge ruled that the embryos "are not property nor are they a fully formed human being."
"It simply is not necessary in this case to categorize the Embryos as 'life' or 'property,'" Massullo wrote in her decision. "The reality is that the Embryos and their creators, Lee and Findley, deserve something more nuanced."
While Lee might have a right to procreate in other circumstances, she doesn't have a right to procreate with Findley, the judge said.
A call to an attorney for Lee was not immediately returned.
The embryos were being held at the University of California, San Francisco, which in accordance with state law gave Lee and Findley a consent agreement before fertility treatments in which both said they would like the embryos thawed and discarded in case they divorced, according to court documents.
The judge ruled that "UCSF may thaw and discard the Embryos" consistent with a medical directive Findley and Lee had agreed to prior to their divorce.
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