“Whose Egg Is It Anyway?” by Louise Farr
I have had the September 2006 issue of More magazine on my desk since August. A close friend of mine gave me her magazine because there was a fertility article in it that she thought I could use for the blog. Well, I’ve read the article. And read it again and again. And honestly, I still don’t know what to say about it. Talk about conflicted.
The article is about the legal battles of Augusta and Randy Roman over embryos that the couple created, yet didn’t implant. And now the question is created, whose eggs, or embryos, do they belong to? The couple is now divorced.
There are actually 3 sides to this case. On one side is Augusta, who is now 44, who wants custody of the eggs so that she can have them implanted with the hopes that she would carry to term. Then there is Randy who wants the embryos permanently cryopreserved. And then there is the clinic, who have a contract that was initialed by both Randy and Augusta, stating that the embryos would be destroyed if the couple split. Add in lawyers, courts and judges into the mix, and you get a taste of all of the aspects that can happen in a case like this.
As the September issue of More was being prepared, Augusta and her attorney were in the process of taking the case to Texas state supreme court. I checked on Google before writing this, to see if there were any updates. I did find a blog from New York Law School Professor who helped to explain that in Texas, the eggs that are fertilized, but not implanted are actually “pre-embryos” only becoming embryos once they are implanted.
The article also brings to light other divorces that have had to use the legal system to resolve the issues of life or property regarding their fertilized eggs. One segment that made me feel a little better about the future of the legal conflicts that these situations create follows:
No one tracks exactly how many couples divorce before their embryo implants take place. Usually such disputes are resolved informally, says Barbara Katz Rothman, a sociology professor at Baruch College and author of Recreating Motherhood. “Cases don’t come up when things are going well,” she says. “So you always end up with crappy, weird, unusual situations when everything else in the world that usually works” — from informal negotiations between the couple to the pressures and pleadings of family and friends — “has failed. It’s not particularly sensible for these cases to be used as the basis for judging what happens to everybody else.”
And still today, I don’t know which way I side. At one reading, I’m totally with Augusta. On another day, I side with Randy. And on others, I’ll side with the clinic. Maybe my hormones play a factor with my emotions, but I honestly cannot think that any one side has the “right” answer.
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November 5th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
This is a rough one. It makes you wonder what sicence is cooking up for us in the ethical arena now that we will have to deal with in the future.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:50 am
If the embryos are implanted in the woman against her ex-husband’s permission, will he be still responsible for child support?
I’m usually pro-woman when it comes to reproductive rights, but I think it two people are not in equal agreement about reproductive decisions then the nay-sayer wins.
Besides, she can always adopt…she doesn’t need sperm or a man to do that.