Texas Supreme Court Declines To Consider Case Of Frozen Embryos Of Texas Couple

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 30 Aug 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to consider the case of three frozen embryos of a Texas couple who divorced before the woman underwent in vitro fertilization, the AP/New York Times reports (AP/New York Times, 8/26). Several hours before a woman named Augusta Roman was scheduled to undergo IVF, her husband at the time, Randy Roman, insisted that the procedure be canceled and that the embryos be frozen. The couple later began divorce proceedings.

In the case, Augusta Roman is seeking to have the three embryos that survived the freezing process implanted, and Randy Roman is seeking to have them destroyed or to remain frozen indefinitely (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/30). A Houston trial court ordered the embryos turned over to Augusta Roman, but an appeals court ruled in favor of Randy Roman. The state Supreme Court did not issue an opinion in the case. According to the AP/Times, a "major piece of evidence" in the case was a consent form the Romans signed on March 27, 2002, that said the embryos would be discarded in the case of divorce (AP/New York Times, 8/26).

State courts have decided embryo cases on an individual basis because there is no federal precedent. The supreme courts of six states in similar cases generally have ruled that the right of one divorcing spouse not to implant the embryos overrules the right of the other spouse to have them implanted indefinitely (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/30).

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