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Irish Court Refuses Woman's Plea for Her Own Frozen Embryos

By Kathleen Gilbert

DUBLIN, Ireland, October 9, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After a series of court battles, ending in the Supreme Court of Ireland, an Irish woman has been denied the right to have her own frozen embryos implanted in her womb because the law does not consider the embryos children, reports Ireland's RTE News.

In Roche v. Roche, a woman sued her now-estranged husband for refusing to let her use their embryos; the man said he does not want to father any more children. The woman argued that the protection offered in the Irish Constitution to the unborn child included embryos, but the High Court ruled that the three frozen embryos in question are not to be given the rights of unborn children, because they are outside the womb. 

In 2002, the woman and her husband, whose first names have not been released, decided to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, in order to provide a sibling for their only son. The husband signed a form at the Dublin clinic affirming he would act as the father of any children born as a result of the IVF treatment. Six embryos were produced, three of which were implanted; the remaining embryos were frozen. The IVF was successful, and the woman gave birth to a baby girl in October of that year.

Three months later, the couple separated, and the woman asked for custody of her three remaining embryos. However, her husband argued that the visit to the IVF clinic was purely for "one more go" at a second child, and he does not want to act as father to the embryos, in the event that the implantation were successful.

"I have a right to say no. It is my human right," he said.

The woman persisted in her desire to carry her own children to term. "These embryos constituted human life, I treat them as our children," she said. "That is how our daughter came into the world."

The High Court judge who handled the case said it was not possible for the court to decide when unborn life begins, and that the issue was irrelevant to the case.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin expressed deep concern about the court's ruling, lamenting the fact that the court cast doubt on the amount of protection the Constitution affords to human life at its earliest stages.

He affirmed the Catholic teaching that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his or her existence, a human being must be recognised as having the rights of a person.

"We need a governing body that will protect everyone," said the archbishop.

Expressing her dismay, Member of European Parliament (MEP) Kathy Sinnott claimed the decision was "the first step Ireland takes on the slippery slope to denying a right to life to a class of human beings."

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