NJ Supreme Court Issues Frozen Embryo Decision

TRENTON, N.J: August 14, 2001 — The New Jersey Supreme Court will allow a divorced father to decide if seven frozen embryos should be kept in storage or destroyed. But Tuesday`s ruling also upheld a lower court decision that kept the father from having the embryos implanted in another woman, thus preventing his ex-wife from becoming a mother against her will. The husband wanted them preserved so they could be implanted in a new spouse, but his former wife sought to block that. The parents have never been publicly identified. In court papers the mother is identified only as "J.B." and the father "M.B."

"In this case, after having considered that M.B. is a father and is capable of fathering additional children, we have affirmed J.B.`s right to prevent implantation of the pre-embryos," Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz wrote.

The court ruled unanimously that the embryos may be destroyed if the father does not decide to keep them in storage.

M.B., the husband, contended the couple had an oral agreement that the embryos would not be destroyed. A devout Roman Catholic, he argued through his lawyer that his former wife would deny him the opportunity to become a father to what he says are unborn children.

In September, a state appeals court ruled that the woman could not be forced to become a mother and was free to destroy the frozen embryos. That decision, the first of its kind in New Jersey, was appealed to the Supreme Court, which later barred the destruction of the embryos until the appeal was settled.

After struggling with infertility, the Camden County couple used in vitro fertilization to create the embryos. In March 1996, a daughter was born. The couple split in September 1996.

Their 1998 divorce settlement left open the question of custody of seven remaining embryos. The couple`s contract with the company storing the embryos said they would be discarded in case of a divorce, unless a court ruled otherwise.

In its unanimous opinion, the appeals court cited the fundamental "right to procreate and the right not to procreate" in siding with the woman.

This is the fourth state Supreme Court to decide such a case. Tennessee`s high court said embryos in this situation are in limbo between property and personhood and should be afforded "special respect."

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News