A woman who took her fight to use her frozen embryos to the European Court of Human Rights, has been told she cannot use the embryos now that her ex-partner has withdrawn his consent for their use.
Natalie Evans had IVF treatment after discovering she had ovarian cancer in 2000. In 2001, she and her fiance Howard Johnston, underwent the process of IVF and six embryos were stored, before her ovaries were removed as part of the treatment for cancer. At that point, she had to wait two years before attempting implatation of the embryos in her uterus. However, when her relationship with fiance Howard Johnston later broke down, he withdrew his permission for the fertilised embryos to be used. Under UK law, both parties must give their permission for fertilised embryos to be implanted. There was then a time-frame put on destroying the embryos, which Evans successfully applied to have delayed until her case was heard.
Evans had taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights claiming violation of her human rights, but on March 7, 2006, the Court ruled that the embryos had no independent right to life and it upheld the UK law's right for either party to withdraw their permission up until the point when the embryo is implanted.
Evans's case is a landmark judgement in the process of IVF history and she plans to appeal. If she loses, she will have lost the only opportunity to have a baby that is genetically related to her. However, whilst her former partner has not claimed that the ruling is in any way a 'victory', he feels his right to have a family 'if and when' he chooses, has been protected.
If you want to read more about the ruling, you can see the details of the hearing on the European Court of Human Rights website.
